The Russian Sugar Producers Union, the industry lobby, has proposed cutting an import tariff on cane raws from March to $50 per tonne from $140 to curb rising prices of the sweetener, the lobby said on Tuesday. "Sugar prices have risen by 3.6 percent from the start of the year following rising prices in the world," Andrei Bodin, the union's chairman told Reuters.

"So the union has discussed with the Agriculture Ministry a possibility of setting a $50 per tonne tariff in March and April. Now this has to be discussed with partners within the Consultative Council on Sugar from Belarus and Kazakhstan."

Soaring sugar prices have eroded demand after disappointing harvests in top producers Brazil and India squeezed supplies, but analysts say the crunch should ease after the first quarter. Russia has formed with its ex-Soviet neighbours Belarus and Kazakhstan a customs union from this year and set common import tariffs.

Copyright Reuters, 2010