Currently, the Russian agricultural department is thinking about revising the size of the export duty.
Farmers have repeatedly pointed out that high export duties are one of the main reasons why producers’ profitability remains low.
For example, in February, the Association of Peasant Farmers and Agricultural Cooperatives again stated that the grain duty should be abolished as soon as possible.
Over the past 2 years, Russian farmers have achieved record results: in total they harvested 300 million tons of grain.
However, the industry as a whole is not doing very well, and one of the reasons for this is low profitability. Fertilizers, seeds, equipment are becoming more expensive, and high export duties do not make it possible to receive sufficient income.
As a result, this can lead to quite sad consequences.
In particular, agriculture is already experiencing a shortage of personnel, and if farmers do not have the opportunity to increase wages, then further outflow is almost inevitable.
In addition, the lack of opportunity to make a profit may force many farmers to reduce their acreage.
To prevent such developments, the duty must be abolished as soon as possible, agricultural producers believe.
What steps does the Ministry of Agriculture plan to take now?
The department emphasizes that there is no talk yet of a complete abolition of the duty; this instrument continues to be in demand in order to ensure food security within the country.
However, the Minister of Agriculture Dmitry Patrushev recently said that this year the ministry is going to adjust the duty again, as was done a year ago.
At the same time, there is no exact data yet on how much the duty will change and what it will be after the adjustment.
Experts also believe that it is necessary to increase the base price in the duty calculation formula. It is from the difference between the base and current prices that the amount that exporters must pay is calculated.
Currently, farmers have to pay about 43 dollars for every ton of wheat, and these are quite painful losses for them, says Vladimir Petrichenko, general director of the analytical company ProZerno.
At the moment, since March 20, the duty on wheat exports has decreased slightly and is now 3,143 rubles per ton.
The duty on barley today is 408 rubles per ton, on corn – approximately 71 rubles per ton. It is planned that such rates will be valid until March 26.
