Export duty on Russian wheat rises 15.3% to 4,768.7 rubles per tonne on Dec 25 - Agriculture Ministry

MOSCOW. Dec 25 (Interfax) - The export duty on Russian wheat has risen 15.3% to 4,768.7 rubles per tonne on December 25 from 4,136.5 rubles per tonne in the previous duty period, the Russian Agriculture Ministry said.

The duty on barley has risen to 2,781.8 rubles per tonne from 2,185.3 rubles per tonne, and the duty on corn has increased to 4,894.8 rubles per tonne from 4,393.3 rubles per tonne.

The duties are based on indicative prices of $240.40 per tonne for wheat against $236.50 per tonne the previous duty period, $202 per tonne for barley versus $197.80 per tonne, and $230 per tonne for corn against $229 per tonne.

The Agriculture Ministry has clarified that the duty rates are valid until January 12, 2025, inclusive. The ministry will announce the rates for January 13 to 14, inclusive, on December 28.

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 calculated in dollars initially and in rubles since July 2022. The duty is 70% of the difference between 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 July 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.