June 21, 2006

Russia cuts Siberia grain railway tariff to Pacific ports
 

Russia's federal tariffs service announced Tuesday that it had halved the existing railway tariff for the transport of grain from Siberia to the country's Pacific ports.

The reduced tariffs will be in effect until the end of this year and will apply to the transport of grain over distances exceeding 3,000 kilometres.

The 50 percent tariff cut will come as a considerable boost to plans by Sumitomo Corporation to import Russian wheat to Japan.

Sumitomo said in March it had begun importing Russian agricultural products to Japan via Russia's Far East, and intended to develop Russian wheat imports to Japan and South-east Asia.

Deputy head of the Sumitomo office in Russia's Far East, Suzuki Michio, told reporters, "At present we are studying the possibility of transporting Russian wheat directly to Japan, as well as to the countries in South-east Asia for primary processing and manufacture of semi-finished products."

The most likely outlet for Russian wheat would be the Vladivostok sea port.