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→ IKAR in Mass Media → #66 IKAR in Mass MediaRussia halves long-distance rail fees on grain19 июня 2007 года MOSCOW, June 6 (Reuters) - Russia will halve rail freight tariffs on long-distance grain shipments, which should make cereals from Siberia and the Far East more competitive on the domestic market but is unlikely to boost exports. Russia would cut the duty on domestic rail shipments by 50 percent to and from the Siberian and Far Eastern federal districts for distances over 1,100 km (680 miles) and for export through Russia's far eastern ports, the Federal Tariff Service (FTS) said in a statement issued late on Friday. The FTS has not said when or for how long the tariff would be effective. Industry officials said they expected it to be effective only until the end of 2007. It does not apply to shipments for export through Black Sea and Azov Sea ports -- Russia's main grain-exporting routes. Russia, which produced 78.6 million tonnes of grain in 2006, is expected to export between 12.5 million and 13.0 million tonnes in the 2006/07 crop year ending on June 30. Andrei Slavutin, vice-president of powerful industry lobby the Russian Grain Union, said the new tariff was a positive step but stopped short of meeting the union's full demands. The union has lobbied for grain shipments to be included in the category of "socially important" cargoes like coal, cement, timber and ore, which enjoy tariff discounts between 54 percent and 75 percent depending on distance, Slavutin told Reuters. "Therefore, what we have now is a half-measure," he said. "The railways believe that, if our demand is met, the budget will lose 2.24 billion roubles ($86.69 million) a year and the FTS estimates losses at 1.5 billion roubles. We have yet to convince them of the necessity of such a measure." CUTTING COSTS Dmitry Rylko, general director of the independent Institute for Agricultural Market Studies, said the new tariff would cut $20-25 per tonne from the cost of transporting grain from the Siberian cities of Novosibirsk and Omsk to southern ports. "With the current prices at around $200 per tonne of fourth-grade wheat, FOB Novorossiisk, this is an important discount," Rylko said. But shipments for export through these ports are not eligible for the reduced tariff. Slavutin said traders were unlikely to risk paying high fines in an attempt to disguise export shipments as domestic. "A hike in exports via far eastern ports is also unlikely," he said. "Since a 50 percent tariff on shipments for distances over 3,000 km was introduced last year, only 5,200 tonnes of grain were exported from those ports." Both Rylko and Slavutin pointed out that volumes of Russian grain exports in the new 2007/08 season will depend more on the new crop, which may be damaged by drought in the southern part of European Russia, the country's main breadbasket. Slavutin said the new tariff could push down rising Russian grain prices, while Rylko suggested it could increase domestic grain shipments and cut flour shipments. "For example, far eastern regions import flour. Now flour mills there, which have been idle since Soviet times, may be revived," Rylko said. (To see Russian grains and oilseed prices Reuters terminal users can doubleclick on ($1=25.84 Rouble) Source: Reuters | #grain | Comments: 0 Views: 57
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