Russian government imposing grain export duties

The Russian government is imposing grain export duties, Deputy Russian Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich said at a meeting with Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and other deputy prime ministers.

Prime Minister Medvedev said at the meeting that Russia had a splendid harvest this year, and that exports had risen considerably, so the country needed a reserve. Therefore he recommended that proposals to impose administrative restrictions on grain exports be developed.

Dvorkovich, for his part, said that the export potential that would ensure a stable market after a harvest of 104 million tonnes was an estimated 28 million tonnes, and that 21 million tonnes of that had already been shipped abroad.