Export duty on Russian wheat to decrease 6% to 3,600 rubles starting March 6 - Agriculture Ministry

MOSCOW. Mar 1 (Interfax) - The duty rate for wheat exports from Russia as of March 6 will decrease to 3,575.4 rubles compared to 3,800.5 rubles per tonne the previous week, the Ministry of Agriculture said.

This represents a 6% decrease.

Duties on barley will increase to 587.8 rubles from 571 rubles per tonne, while rising on corn to 885.2 rubles from 828.9 rubles per tonne.

Rates were calculated based on indicative prices of $239.4 per tonne for wheat ($243.5 the previous week), $181 for barley ($181.2 last week), and $185.6 for corn ($185.2 last week).

The duties will be valid until March 12 inclusive.

The duties for the March 12-19 period will be published on Thursday, March 7, the Ministry of Agriculture told Interfax.

Russia introduced a grain damper mechanism on June 2, 2021, which provides for floating duties on the export of wheat, corn and barley and the use of funds received from them as subsidies for agricultural producers. Duties are calculated weekly using price indicators based on the prices of export contracts registered on the MOEX. At first, the duty rates were calculated in dollars. Since July 2022, they have been determined in rubles. The duty is 70% of the difference between the base and indicative prices.

The base price used to calculate the export duty on wheat has been increased to 17,000 rubles from 15,000 rubles per tonne as of June 2023, while for barley and corn, it has risen to 15,875 rubles from 13,875 rubles per tonne.