Customs subcommittee approves cancellation of duties on import of 130,000 tonnes of tomatoes into Russia in H1 2024

MOSCOW. Dec 19 (Interfax) - Russia's subcommittee on customs, tariff, and non-tariff regulation, and protective measures in foreign trade has approved implementing a tariff preference to import 130,000 tonnes of tomatoes in the first half of 2024, the administrative office of First Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Belousov told reporters.

"The goal of the measure is to eliminate the risk of a shortage in these products on the domestic market," the administrative office said.

The Economic Development Ministry's press service has clarified to Interfax that this involves zeroing out the duty to import tomatoes as part of the quota.

Russia's baseline rate to import tomatoes is 15%, though not less than 0.08 euros per kilogram.

Deputy Agriculture Minister Andrei Razin previously said that production of greenhouse vegetables increased 8% last year in Russia to "overtake" the figure of 1.6 million tonnes. Output of outdoor vegetables rose 10% to 5.6 million tonnes.

"When talking about goals, then we plan to boost production of outdoor vegetables by at least 10% by 2030 and protected-ground vegetables by about 15%," Razin said. There are 45 greenhouse complexes with total area over 400 hectares currently under construction.

"These 400 hectares should allow us to count on increasing the production volume by another 190,000 tonnes," Razin said.