authorities may introduce 8% export duty on fertilizers – Kommersant

The Russian government wants to introduce an 8% export duty on all types of fertilizers for a year and a half, reports Interfax citing three sources familiar with the discussion. According to the agency, the Ministry of Finance thus expects to collect 120 billion rubles from the industry, included in the 2023 budget, by the end of this year.

In December last year, the Ministry of Finance introduced a customs duty of 23.5% for 2023. The rate mechanism assumed that companies should pay a duty to the budget if the cost of their products exceeded the state-established level of $450 per ton. The authorities planned to collect 120 billion rubles from this duty, but by June the budget received only 5 billion rubles, reported Vedomosti sources.

The 8% rate, which is being discussed in the government, will not be tied to the price of products, agency sources said. Two Interfax interlocutors in two fertilizer companies expect that the 120 billion rubles that need to be raised will include funds raised through windfall tax from the electricity sector. Estimated “b”windfall tax should attract an additional 25 billion rubles to the budget.

Sources of the agency expect that the Cabinet of Ministers will soon publish a draft resolution introducing a new export duty. They expect that the new rate could start working as early as September 1st.

Erdni Kagaltynov