Bangladesh Sugar Refiners Association may increase the prices of loose-refined sugar and packaged refined sugar by Tk16 per kg.

With this increase, the price of loose refined sugar will stand at Tk120 per kg from Tk104 and packaged sugar at Tk125 per kg from Tk109, reads a circular of the commerce ministry.

"A letter will be sent to the National Board of Revenue (NBR) to extend the period of duty exemption on sugar import due to the price hike in the international market," Commerce Secretary (Senior Secretary) Tapan Kanti Ghosh said in a meeting at the Secretariat on Wednesday.

Mentioning that the tariff for sugar will end on 31 May, the commerce secretary said, "Since the price of sugar will increase, we will recommend a further reduction in the duty."

Earlier, the Bangladesh Trade and Tariff Commission recommended the commerce ministry to increase refined sugar prices.

The recommendation was made considering the continuous price hike of raw sugar in the global market, which affects the national sugar refineries.

The hike also aims to facilitate the opening of Letters of Credit (LCs) for sugar import, according to the trade commission's report collected by The Business Standard from the commerce ministry.

The report was prepared to keep the dollar exchange rate at Tk111, in line with the current market price for sugar. The exchange rate last year during the same period was Tk90.

The commission blamed the soaring exchange rate for sugar price hikes in the local market.