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Published : 26 Jul 2025, 10:42 AM
Russia, one of the world's top producers and exporters of sunflower oil, on Friday suspended floating duty rates on sunflower oil and sunflower meal until Aug 31 to boost exports and help local producers.
Separately, the world's largest exporter of barley effectively cut export duty for barley and corn by adjusting the calculation mechanism in order to boost exports.
The moves follow a government meeting on measures to boost agricultural exports held earlier this week. President Vladimir Putin set out a goal of increasing agriculture exports by 50 percent by 2030.
The export tax was introduced in 2021 in order to protect the domestic market from price spikes and the duty was set at 4,739 roubles ($59.61) per ton of sunflower oil in July.
"At present, the domestic market is fully supplied with sunflower oil. Therefore, the suspension will not affect the availability of sunflower oil for Russians," the government said in a statement.
According to the US Department of Agriculture, Russia and Ukraine produce over half of the world’s sunflower seeds and are responsible for nearly three-quarters of total sunflower oil and meal exports.
IKAR consultancy head Dmitry Rylko estimated that Russia exported 4.7 million tons of sunflower oil in the 2024/25 season, which will end on Aug 31, compared with a record 5.3 million tons in the previous season.
"We expect some revival in exports," Rylko told Reuters. He estimated that Russia will export 350,000 tons in August. IKAR forecasts this year's sunflower seed harvest at no less than a record 18 million tons.
Russian lobby group Oil and Fat Union estimates that Russia is the world's leading producer of sunflower oil and the second largest exporter after Ukraine.
Russia exports sunflower oil to India, Turkey, Iran, China and Egypt. It exports sunflower meal, used in animal feed, to Turkey, Belarus, China and the European Union.
Russia's sunflower oil production became unprofitable in 2024 due to rising domestic prices for seeds. Several plants across Russia stopped operations as a result.
Exports fell by 38 percent in the first half of 2025, according to customs data, which does not take into account trade with sanctioned countries such as Iran.
Head of the Oil and Fat Union Mikhail Maltsev said that the duty suspension for the remainder of the season will help exporters clear their stockpiles.
"In the new season, we hope the market will stabilise and that procurement prices for sunflower seeds will once again make exports economically viable for processing plants," Maltsev said.
BARLEY AND CORN
The government also adjusted the mechanism for barley and corn duty's calculation, raising the so-called base price by 1,000 roubles per tonne to 17,875 roubles per tonne, effectively cutting the duty.
It left the wheat duty formula unchanged despite calls from farmers to change it to make growing wheat, Russia's main agriculture export commodity, more profitable.
The duty is calculated weekly as 70 percent of the difference between the base price, set by the government and the market price.
As a result of the government's measure, the actual export duty for barley remained at zero where it fell to in May while the duty for corn will fall to 840.8 roubles from 947.1 roubles per ton previously.
The duty for wheat is currently also at zero as exports slowed in July and market prices fell. The Agriculture Ministry will set the new duties based on the new mechanism later on Friday.
