Russia-Kazakhstan-Belarus Customs Union Cancels Import Tariffs on Buckwheat, Potatoes and Cabbage

As announced by the Russia-Kazakhstan-Belarus Customs union commission, from Nov. 23, 2010 to June 1, 2011, the customs allies will apply zero import tariffs on buckwheat, potatoes, and cabbage.

Previously, the import tariffs on the foregoing commodities were: 5% on potatoes for seeding; 15% on potatoes for starch production; 15% on new potatoes; 15% on cabbage; and 5% on buckwheat.

The foregoing decision was respectively passed at the end of Sept. 2010 by the Russian Government tariff policy safeguard sub-committee and in early Oct. at the meeting of the Customs union commission. The main motivation is the drought in Russia this summer, which led to the output decline of such commodities.

According to the assessment by the Russian Ministry of Agriculture, this year Russia needs to purchase more than 4.00 million tons of potatoes from abroad.