Reshetnikov announced export duties on sunflower and oil

The Ministry of Economic Development announced that export duties on sunflower oil may be introduced in Russia from autumn 2021. The authorities continue to fight the rise in price of products with administrative measures, for duty producers this is the worst option.

Economy Minister Maxim Reshetnikov said that from September 1, an export duty on sunflower oil (based on a new crop) could be introduced, and from July 1, a prohibitive export duty on sunflower seeds would be extended.

According to the minister, the fee will be floating with a cut-off price, "below which there will be no fee, and above that, 70% of the excess will go to the budget in the form of a fee." The cut-off price is unknown, but Reshetnikov promised that it contains a "sufficient, good" rate of return for producers.

From January 9 to June 30, 2021, the export duty on sunflower and rapeseed has already been increased to 30% of the customs value of exported products. The authorities have set the lower bar at 165 euros per ton of products.

• The rise in food prices is a sensitive topic for the authorities, who have begun to regulate them by administrative methods. In December, Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin signed decrees to "stabilize the situation on the food market" - in order to stabilize prices for flour and bread, a tariff quota for grain exports and an export duty for wheat were established.

• The authorities pay special attention to sunflower oil - on December 9, Vladimir Putin was outraged by the high prices for oil and sugar. After that, the authorities set price ceilings for these products until April 1, 2021. The agreements signed by manufacturers, retail chains, the Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Ministry of Agriculture provide that a liter of sunflower oil in wholesale should cost no more than 95 rubles per 1 liter and no more than 110 rubles in retail, and sugar - no more than 36 rubles per 1 kg in wholesale and 46 rubles in retail.

• Export duties on oil for manufacturers are much worse than the voluntary-compulsory restriction of prices in Russian retail, wrote Kommersant . It is possible that the production of sunflower oil in the current agricultural year will decrease, and producers will switch to more expensive types. Mikhail Maltsev, executive director of the Oil and Fat Union, called the duties a catastrophe for the industry. In exchange for the waiver of duties, manufacturers were ready to support the price freeze "at least until the end of August."

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