Duty on Russian wheat exports to decrease 3.3% starting May 15, duty on barley and corn to remain at zero - Ministry of Agriculture

MOSCOW. May 8 (Interfax) - The duty rate for wheat exports from Russia as of May 15 will be 3,170.7 rubles per tonne versus 3,277.7 rubles per tonne the week before, the Ministry of Agriculture said.

This is a decrease of 3.3%.

Duties on barley and corn will remain at zero.

The rates were calculated based on indicative prices: $234.6 per tonne for wheat (versus $234.8 the week before), $167.1 per tonne for barley (versus $169.3 last week), and $169.1 per tonne for corn (versus $168.1 last week).

These rates will be valid through May 21 inclusive.

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 return of funds received from them to subsidize agricultural producers. The duties are calculated weekly from indicators based on the prices of export contracts registered on the MOEX. At first, duty rates were calculated in dollars, but as of July 2022, they have been set in rubles. The duty is 70% of the difference between the base and indicative prices.

The base price for calculating the export duty on wheat increased to 17,000 rubles per tonne as of June 2023 from 15,000 rubles per tonne, while for barley and corn, the duty rose to 15,875 rubles from 13,875 rubles per tonne.