Export duty on Russian wheat falls to 4,525.4 rubles per tonne - Agriculture Ministry

MOSCOW. May 31 (Interfax) - The export duty on Russian wheat will be 4,525.4 rubles per tonne for the week May 31-June 6, the Agriculture Ministry said in a statement.

The duty falls for the eighth consecutive week, the decline accelerating to 2.6% from 1.8% the previous week.

The duty on barley decreases to 1,224.7 rubles per tonne from 1,559.1 rubles per tonne, while the duty on corn rises to 2,753.6 rubles per tonne from 2,565.8 rubles per tonne.

The duties are based on indicative prices of $268.30 per tonne for wheat compared to $275.30 per tonne the previous seven-day period, $195.30 per tonne for barely versus $204.90 per tonne, and $222.60 per tonne for corn against $223.20 per tonne.

The government on June 2, 2021, introduced a grain damper mechanism that stipulates floating duties on exports of wheat, corn, and barley, as well as returning the funds received from the duties in order to subsidize agricultural producers. The duties are calculated weekly on the basis of price indicators based on the value of export contracts registered on the Moscow Exchange .

The Russian government on June 30, 2022, adopted a resolution to convert the duties into rubles as of July 2022. The baseline price for calculating the export duty is 15,000 rubles per tonne for wheat and 13,875 rubles per tonne for barley and corn, respectively. The duty totals 70% of the difference between the baseline price and the indicative price.

The Agriculture Ministry plans on June 1 to raise the baseline price for calculating the export duty on wheat, the so-called cut-off price, to 17,000 rubles from the current 15,000 rubles.