October 25, 2007

Russia to raise grain export duty only when export quotas reached

Russia will only raise its grain export duty after the grain export potential in the 2007-08 marketing year - estimated at 12 million tonnes has been reached, Agriculture Minister Alexey Gordeyev said Wednesday (October 24, 2007).

Gordeyev reiterated the government's stance that it would impose restricting measures on grain exports when the export potential is exhausted, saying it is giving ample notice to businesses. 

The pace of grain export is closely watched by the market, so if and when the decision to raise export duty comes, there would not be surprises, he added.

He said the Agriculture Ministry was working to establish the amount of export duty and when it should be imposed, and it would make its proposal to the government in the first half of November.

Economic Development Minister Elvira Nabiullina also said Wednesday the government wasn't planning to increase the wheat export duty for now.

The government decreed Oct. 10 that the export duty for wheat and meslin for the period between Nov. 17 this year and April 30, 2008, will be 10 percent, but no less than EUR 0.022 a kilogramme. The export duty for barley will be 30 percent , but no less than EUR0.07 a kilogramme.