Russia has introduced a 17.5-million-ton quota for wheat, rye, corn and barley export. The new rule will last from February 15 to June 30, 2021. Export to other Eurasian Economic Union member-states will not be limited though, Interfax news agency reported.
As the Russian authority claims, the move is aimed to stabilize flour and bread prices because the grain’s price is soaring.
In addition to restrictive measures, Russia has also introduced a new export tariff. From February 15, exporters pay 25 euro to export one ton of wheat. On March 1 this tariff will double. At the same date, Russia will also introduce tariffs for corn and barley export of 25 and 10 euro respectively. The export of rye won’t be restrained because the amount of its export is too small, according to grain market experts.
If the exporters want to increase the volume of shipment above the quota, they should pay a fee of 50% of the customs value but not less than 100 euro a ton.
The Russian Ministry of Agriculture has already distributed the quotas between 234 companies. Since the distribution process was based on historical principal, the biggest quotas were received by those companies that showed the biggest export records in the past: Trade House RIF (2.69 million ton), Aston (2.123 million), Mirogroup Resources (1.759 million ton), Glencore Agro (1.234 million) and Cargill (892.53 thousand ton).
According to Eduard Zernin, chairman of the Russian Union of Grain Exporters, exporters are ready to take up a quota but hope to negotiate the removal of any export limitations in the future.
However, the government has already announced a new floating tariff on grain export. It will be figured out based on the wheat and barley price coefficient.
As the Russian Ministry of Agriculture data has shown, in the period from June 2020 to February 1 Russia exported 34.1 million tons of grain, which is 24.3% more than last year. This figure includes 28.4 million tons of wheat, 3.9 million tons of barley and 0.3 million tons of other types of grain. However, the corn export has declined by 4.8% to 1.5 million tons.
Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Agriculture is also examining the opportunity to limit sunflower seed export until April 1. For the first time, this idea was announced on January 21 by Evgeniy Karabanov, an expert from the Grain Union of Kazakhstan during his speech at the Kazakh Oilseed Summit.
