Local confectioners hail cess on imported candy

Anjana Samarasinghe

The country needs to specify national standards when importing chocolates, biscuits and other confectioneries to the country, President of the Lanka Confectionery Manufacturer’s Association (LCMA) Quintus Perera said.

The Government has taken the initiative to increase the import cess on chocolates, biscuits and sweets by 50 per cent through the 2009 budget.

“This is a positive move for the local industry and we have been lobbying for this initiative”, he said. Perera said they were expecting a different method of calculating cess imposed on these items.

“However we are happy about the necessary steps taken by the Government through the 2009 budget”, he said.

With the recent melamine issue, the country has now focused on raw material imports to the country which are being used for manufacturing finished products such as chocolates, biscuits and other products.

“Not only the raw materials imported to the country, we needs to focus on the contents of the finished products that are being imported. Countries like USA have specified national standards when importing finished products to USA.

They have specified standard amounts of ingredients that needs to be contained in those imported food items. Sri Lanka too need to specify national standards for these imported chocolates, biscuits and other finished products, he said.

Group Managing Director of Ceylon Biscuits Limited Lakshman de Silva said the imposition of this cess on imported chocolates, biscuits and sweets is a good initiative.