November 11, 2011

Russia's Economic Ministry perceives grain export duty unreasonable

The introduction of grain exports duty by the end of 2011 is unreasonable, according to Russia's Deputy Economic Development Minister Andrei Slepnev on Thursday (Nov 10).

"There won't be any export duties on grain in the near future," Slepnev said, speaking about this year. "There are no justifications for doing this. Russia's current export is sufficient, the situation on the grain markets is stable, and domestic grain prices, which are the most important, are quite acceptable," he added.

However, the Russian government plans to analyze the situation sometime around March 2012, and could introduce the duty should the volume of grain exports be significant, Slepnev said.

In late October, Deputy Economic Development Minister Andrei Klepach said that the ministry could introduce a floating duty on grain exports if domestic grain prices grow significantly.

Earlier in October, First Deputy Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov said that a prohibitively high export duty could be set if grain exports exceed 24 million tonnes in the current agricultural year, adding that the duty is likely to be floating.

As of October 26, Russia's grain exports have amounted to around 12 million tonnes since July 1, Sergei Sukhov, an official at the Agriculture Ministry, said then.