FAS proposes to increase the export duty on sunflower seeds to stabilize domestic prices   Natalia Rukina The Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) has proposed to increase export duties on sunflower seeds to stabilize domestic prices for vegetable oil, which are rising against the background of the devaluation of the ruble, TASS reports with reference to the deputy head of the FAS Andrey Tsyganov. The corresponding letter was sent to the deputy, Deputy head of the State Duma Committee on Agrarian Issues of Russia Nadezhda Shkolkina (available to TASS). The TASS news agency reported on January 16.

"The Federal Antimonopoly Service has made a proposal to the Ministry of Agriculture of Russia to consider the possibility of applying customs and tariff regulation measures by increasing the existing export duties on sunflower seeds on a temporary basis," A. Tsyganov said. According to him, the FAS believes that, despite the insignificant share (about 1%) of external supplies from the volume of production, manufacturers and suppliers are guided by export and world prices, as a result of which, from August to December, the retail price of sunflower oil increased by 10.5% in federal networks and by 4-7.5% - in regional retail and non-chain stores.

"We hope to cool down the market a little by raising duties, to give some signal to stabilize prices in the market," A. Tsyganov explained, adding that the amount of the duty will be the subject of discussion at the level of relevant ministries, which have not yet submitted their reaction to the letter. Thus, according to the agency "ProSerno", the export price for sunflower seeds from September to December 2014 increased 1.5 times to 18.4 thousand rubles/ton, for oil — 1.3 times to 38.9 thousand rubles/ton.

In addition to the devaluation of the ruble, this was influenced by a reduction in the collection of oilseeds to 12.5−13.3 million tons in 2014 against 13.6 million tons in 2013. According to estimates of the "Fat and Oil Union of Russia", due to the instability of the economic situation, about 50% of the harvested crop remains illegally contracted.    

At the same time, most fat-and-oil plants lack the necessary reserves of raw materials for the production of sunflower oil. The amount of the fee will be the subject of discussion at the level of relevant ministries — they have not yet submitted their reaction to the letter.

 Source TASS