Agriculture Ministry raises duty on Russian wheat exports to 140.9 rubles per tonne as of March 18

MOSCOW. March 17 (Interfax) - The Agriculture Ministry has adjusted the duty rate on Russian wheat exports starting from March 18, according to the ministry's website.

The duty will be 140.9 rubles per tonne, the ministry said. Previously, on March 13, a rate of 135.4 rubles was announced. Prior to that, the rate was zero for nine weeks.

Duties on the export of barley and corn will remain at zero; they have been at this level for a considerable amount of time.

The rates will be in effect through March 24 inclusive.

The Agriculture Ministry also adjusted the indicative prices on the basis of which the rates were calculated. The indicative price for wheat was $231.6 per tonne instead of the previously announced $231.5 and the same for calculating the duty in the previous period (before March 18). For barley, the indicative price was $217 instead of $219 and $230.8, respectively; for corn, it will be $218.1 instead of $218.3 and $231.4 per tonne.

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 . The duty is 70% of the difference between the reference and indicative prices.

The base price is currently 18,000 rubles per tonne for wheat and 17,875 rubles per tonne for barley and corn.