MOSCOW, May 26. /TASS/. The Russian government’s subcommittee on customs tariff and non-tariff regulation, protective measures in international trade has decided to increase the minimum export duty on scrap and iron-and-steel waste from €45 to €70 per tonne, the Industry and Trade Ministry said in a statement on Wednesday. Previously the ministry suggested that it be doubled to 90 euro per tonne. 

"The interest component of the duty will remain unchanged — 5% of the customs value. Meanwhile, the minimum duty will be changed from €45 to €70 per tonne for improving the efficiency of customs administration and preventing the undervaluation of the customs value in exports. Consequently, the rates of export customs duties on waste and ferrous scrap will amount to 5%, but no less than €70 per tonne," the statement said.

The move follows the growth of global prices for those products and is expected to allow keeping their sufficient volume on the domestic market, the ministry said. The decision was taken on May 25.

A respective draft decree by the government will be prepared by the Economic Development Ministry shortly, the Industry and Trade Ministry noted.

According to Deputy Industry and Trade Minister Victor Yevtukhov, scrap and ferrous waste are strategic raw stuff for Russia’s metals industry, therefore the price of bars on the Russian market directly depends on scrap purchasing prices.

The Russian government set the rate of ferrous scrap export customs duty at no less than €45 per tonne for a period of 180 days starting January 31, 2021.

In 2020, exports of ferrous scrap from Russia rose by 15% to 3.8 mln tonnes. An increase in duties allowed the reduction of exported volumes of scrap as it dropped 4.5-fold from February to April to 194,000 tonnes. However, the global trends of growing scrap metal prices have again been to the benefit of rising scrap exports, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade said earlier.