Export duty on Russian wheat to drop 17.1% to 1,832 rubles per tonne on April 23 - Agriculture Ministry

MOSCOW. April 21 (Interfax) - The export duty on Russian wheat will drop 17.1% to 1,832 rubles per tonne on April 23 from 2,210.1 rubles per tonne in the previous duty period, the Agriculture Ministry said.

The duty on barley will plunge to 87.7 rubles per tonne from 365.6 rubles per tonne, and the duty on corn will fall to 1,073.6 rubles per tonne from 1,374.5rubles per tonne.

The duties are based on indicative prices of $247.40 per tonne for wheat against $248.10 per tonne the previous duty period, $204 per tonne for barley versus $204 per tonne, and $220.90 per tonne for corn against $220.90 per tonne.

The new rates are valid until April 29, inclusive.

Russia introduced a grain damper mechanism on June 2, 2021, which stipulates 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 Moscow Exchange . Duty rates were initially calculated in dollars and in rubles since July 2022. The duty is 70% of the difference between the reference and indicative prices.

The reference price for calculating the export duty on wheat was initially 15,000 rubles per tonne and the reference price on barley and corn was 13,875 rubles per tonne. These were raised in June 2023 to 17,000 rubles per tonne and 15,875 rubles per tonne, respectively. The prices were raised again on June 28, 2024, to 18,000 rubles per tonne for wheat and 16,875 rubles per tonne for barley and corn.