China MOFCOM publicises proposed enterprise list for 2026 sugar import tariff-rate quota redistribution (notice 商贸农函〔2026〕163号)

Mechanism

China administers sugar imports through a tariff-rate quota: in-quota imports pay a low duty, out-of-quota imports a much higher one. Quota that primary holders do not use is returned and redistributed to other qualified applicants; this notice is the public- comment stage of that redistribution for 2026. It names 42 proposed recipients in the annex — two central state enterprises (中粮集团有限公司 / COFCO Group and 中国糖业酒类集团有限公司) and 40 provincial-level refiners, food processors and traders, including COFCO subsidiaries in Liaoning, Zhangzhou and Tangshan.

Context from USDA FAS's April 2026 China sugar report (secondary, not from the notice): the annual quota is 1.945 Mt with a 15% in-quota rate and a 50% out-of-quota rate, with roughly 70% of the quota reserved for state-owned enterprises. Those figures are not restated in the MOFCOM notice and are not used to set severity.

Downstream implications

• Names the Chinese buyers that will hold redistributed in-quota access into Q4 2026,

relevant to raw-sugar exporters (Brazil, Thailand, Australia, Cuba) selling into China.

• Redistribution of returned quota is a routine administrative step; on its face it neither

tightens nor loosens the regime, hence severity 1 and polarity: neutral.

Open questions

• Redistributed volume and per-enterprise allocation: the annex lists names only.
• Whether the final list differs from the proposed list after the 30 September comment window.