MEXICO CITY (Reuters) -Mexico on Tuesday implemented a new tariff for sugar imports due to falling international prices and a risk of oversupply in the domestic market, according to the country's Official Gazette.

The new tariff of 156% per kg applies to all types of sugar, including beet sugar and syrups. Refined liquid sugar will be subject to a 210.44% tariff, according to a decree signed by President Claudia Sheinbaum and published in the Official Gazette on Monday night.

Until now, imported sugar faced tariffs of between $360 and $390 per ton.

Mexico is typically not a sugar importer, although in the last three sugar production cycles, foreign sugar purchases have risen significantly due to bad weather conditions that caused a drop in local production, along with lower exports to the United States.

"This tariff scheme provides greater protection for domestic product," Carlos Blackaller, the head of Mexico's main sugarcane producers' organization, told Reuters. 

The tariff would give Mexican sugar a "slightly higher price season" in the local market for the 2025/26 season, which is just beginning.

"It practically eliminates the possibility of sugar imports into Mexico," he said, adding that sugar imported in the last three seasons totaled just over one million tons.

Mexico produces an average of around 5 million tons of sugar per year, of which just over 4.0 million are destined for local consumption and the rest for export to the U.S. and the world market - which pays a lower price than the U.S. 

The sugar industry association, which represents sugar mill owners, did not respond to a request for comment.

According to the decree, the new 156% tariff is ad valorem, meaning it includes insurance, freight and costs, Blackaller said.

For the 2025/26 sugar cycle, production is estimated at 5.2 million tons of sugar, a recovery from the 4.7 million tons of the previous harvest. However, the current sugar export quota to the U.S. is only 188,000 tons.