Moscow - A slump in Russian imports as a result of the fall in the rouble has led Industry and Trade Ministry officials to consider cutting a wide range of import duties in the face of rising food prices.
“This idea is being considered very actively,” Andrei Kushnerenko, deputy head of the department for regulation of external trade said.
“Various different mechanisms for putting it into action are being considered. Discussion is going on about how to cut duties if the period of instability continues and the rouble carries on falling,” he added.
Imports accounted for a third of all food eaten in Russia last year, rising to half in major cities like Moscow and St Petersburg, Kushnerenko said recently. By value, food accounted for a quarter of total Russian imports of $52 billion.
The government of outgoing Prime Minister Sergei Kiriyenko imposed an extra duty of three percent on virtually all imports on top of existing duties from August 15.
Kushnerenko said imports of all goods into Russia fell by 15% by value in August in comparison with July. “The most seriously hit have been imports of foods,” he said.
But the devaluation of the rouble and subsequent sharp run on the currency did not happen until the second half of August. September imports are falling much more dramatically.
No official data is yet available for imports so far this month but Kushnerenko said that all assessments showed they were falling “rather sharply.”
The country is a major market for products as diverse as tea from Sri Lanka, dairy products from New Zealand, poultry from the United States and a range of goods, especially meat, from the European Union.
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