The Association of Retail Trade Companies (ACORT) proposed to the Ministry of Agriculture from October 1, 2022 to March 31, 2023 at the EEC level to remove duties on imports of a number of vegetables, fruits, shrimp, salmon, trout, mussels, olive oil, olives, nuts, Arabica coffee and robusta. The Ministry is considering the proposal. This was reported by Kommersant with reference to the department’s letter to industry associations. Chairman of the Presidium of ACORT Igor Karavaev noted that now retail chains have to pay a duty of 3-15% for the import of these items. He explained the need for the measure by saying that it will help to contain the growth in the cost of products for consumers.
The Ministry of Agriculture promised to consider the association’s proposal at the subcommittee on customs and tariff regulation. However, the Association of Nurserymen and Gardeners of the Stavropol Territory has already opposed the zeroing of duties on the import of apples, pears, plums, cherries and peaches. During the apple harvest season, imported products occupy 65-75% of the market, which reduces the purchase prices for local fruits and “undermines the economy” of Russian suppliers.
A source of Kommersant in the industry said that the main suppliers of tomatoes — Azerbaijan, Turkey and Turkmenistan — spend much less on their cultivation, which reduces the final prices. Due to the removal of duties, import substitution in this area may slow down. Ramaz Chanturia, CEO of the Roschaikof association, suggested that retailers wanted to reset the fees for the import of goods that they import themselves. He also stressed that up to 80% of the coffee market is occupied by locally roasted products, and the zeroing of duties will hit Russian processors. At the same time, the initiative was supported by the All-Russian Association of Fishermen and the Berry Union.
The source of Agroinvestor in the vegetable market noted that the ACORT initiative will not help in any way to restrain prices for products, because duties are not a determining factor. “However, the measure will affect the volume of the import market and may have an impact on the economy of domestic agricultural production. For importers, 5% is nothing, but for Russian manufacturers it is a serious influence. For consumers, 5% is also a little bit, because vegetables are not very expensive,” says the interlocutor of Agroinvestor.
He noted that the volume of production, for example, tomatoes, is growing in Russia annually, our country is aimed at import substitution. And if the ACORT initiative is adopted, then a signal will be sent to the market that the country is switching to imported products. “This signal is quite negative, and it is unclear what greenhouse complexes should do in these conditions. I think the proposed measure is wrong, especially due to the fact that we have positive production dynamics,” the source said. In his opinion, the initiative can be supported by the Ministry of Industry and Trade, but it needs to be considered separately for each position. “Where there are not enough vegetables or other products, and its production volume is declining, it may be worth thinking about this measure,” he believes.
Dmitry Leonov, deputy Chairman of the Rusprodsoyuz association, told Agroinvestor that, in his opinion, the decision to reset duties should be taken only after discussing all the consequences with the market. “If there are risks that the abolition of import duties may negatively affect Russian suppliers and processors, then at least we need to take this position into account, because in the situation of the global food crisis, a slowdown in import substitution cannot be allowed,” the expert believes.
At the end of last week, the general director of the union “Growers of Kuban” Nikolai Shcherbakov sent a letter to the head of the Ministry of Agriculture Dmitry Patrushev, in which he asked for assistance in banning the import of fruit products and planting material from unfriendly countries, as well as generally restrict the import of apples and plums during harvesting and sale of domestic fruits. It was noted that the losses of gardeners of the Krasnodar Territory from overstocking the market with imported apples and plums in 2021 amounted to 1.7 billion rubles.
A source: https://www.agroinvestor.ru
