WTO Russia

Russia, Kazakhstan, Belarus Keep Customs Union

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Russia is to maintain the Customs Union with Kazakhstan and Belarus according to Emily Balsamo from the Moscow Office of Bord Bia – Irish Food Board. The Customs Union of Kazakhstan, Belarus and Russia (CU) was formed with the goal of eliminating international tariffs between the three countries, creating a common economic space.

Complete fruition of the policies of the Customs Union of Kazakhstan, Belarus and Russia has occurred only within the past few months, finally creating a free trade area with a common external tariff.  Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan are currently in talks with the supranational committee that heads the Customs Union with the intention of joining.  Ukraine has not joined to date due to apprehension of it impacting on their planned WTO accession.

This raises the question of reconciliation of this pre-existing common economic space with Russia’s WTO membership in the near future.
Belarus and Kazakhstan are currently observer governments to the WTO, not members, and are thus not subject to WTO imposed trade liberalization. Also, how will Russia implement WTO policies while continuing to be a part of a common economic space with two countries that are not members of the WTO?

Russia will fully accede to the WTO later this month after the ratification of all relevant documents by the Russian government, parliament and president. Although tariff rates under WTO membership have not yet been released, it is widely understood that membership will greatly facilitate trade and importation to Russia.

The Customs Union of Kazakhstan, Belarus and Russia will continue through Russia’s WTO accession, likely leading to facilitation of importation to Kazakhstan and Belarus as well. In fact, Russia’s accession has incited strong interest in Belarus’ and Kazakhstan’s future accession, with Russia formally encouraging the EU to support accession of the two countries.

Source: www.thefishsite.com

Retail chains will make a profit on Russia’s accession to the WTO

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Big retailer chains such as X5 Retail Group, “Azbuka Vkusa”,”Okay” and others will have made a profit on Russia’s accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) by the end of 2013 according to the international rating agency Moody’s. Import duties reduction will increase the demand, and, consequently, that will increase revenues and profits of retail chains.

One of conditions of Russia’s accession to the WTO is a reduction of the import duties and tariffs from 10% to 7.8%, according to the report made by Moody’s experts. In their opinion, this should stimulate consumer demand and, therefore, benefits of importers and retailers.

As Moody’s reports, imported products have a significant share in retailers’ turnover; at the same time retailers will reduce retail prices less than the duties and tariffs will be reduced. As a result, the revenue will grow up.

Source:  www.fruitnews.ru

The accession to the WTO and the Russian fishery industry

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As some experts say, the accession to the WTO will not change the total amount of fish and seafood on the Russian market. And fish consumption will continue to grow, as Andrej Krajnij, head of the Federal Fishery Agency, said during the parliamentary hearings in the State Duma on June 20. Four years ago, according to the Russian Statistics Service, the average fish consumption per capita was 12.7 kilos of fish, but the last year it was 22 kilos, and by 2020 it is expected to be 23.5 kilos.

Meanwhile, people involved in the fishery industry expect that the accession to the WTO may cause some serious problems. The deterioration of fishery fleet and the fact that there are almost no facilities for new fishery boats construction and repair of old ones and other factors put the Russian fishery industry in unequal conditions with fishermen from other countries, which are WTO members. Moreover, one of the main problems is the fact that the Russian fishing industry is limited by the imperfect legal system: unreasonable restrictions, outdated legal framework prevent the fishery sector from developing. And there are some assumptions that Russia’s accession to the WTO may even damage the whole fishery industry.

Nevertheless, it is only a forecast, now there are some government programs; their goals are to create good conditions for the development of the fishing industry as an important segment of the national economy of Russia after the WTO accession.

Source: www.frozen-products.ru

Russia’s accession to the WTO may be the end of Russian apples

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The last year Russia imported more than 1 million tons of apples. According to the Russian Statistics Service, the domestic crop was only 300 TMT. According to Pavel Grudinin, Lenin Sovhoz director, average consumption of fruit and berries in Russia is 53 kilos per capita (just to compare – in the U.S. it is 127 kg, in France – 135 kg, in Italy – 187 kg). And when Russia joins the WTO, the import of fruit will only grow up, completely replacing the Russian products as P. Grudinin, said at the conference on Russia’s WTO accession in April 2012.

One of the main problems is the high interest rate for the loans which is up to 14-15%. 18% of the agricultural enterprises is unprofitable, said Anatoly Altukhov, Secretary of the Department of Economics of the Russian Academy of Agricultural Sciences. The facts that a lot of enterprises have loans and the maintenance costs are constantly growing up, only make the situation worse. In 2011, the total credit debt of agricultural organizations was 1.688 trillion rubles, while revenues were 1.215 trillion, so, the credit debt excess was 39%. And without subsidies the agriculture sector is unprofitable or not sufficiently profitable.

Meanwhile, the experts of the Ministry of Economic Development assure that these problems are internal and are not connected with the WTO accession. And, in their opinion, the risks for the agriculture sector after the WTO accession are minimal.

Victor Batanin, Deputy Head of the Department of Trade Negotiations Ministry of Economic Development said that the conditions, on which Russia is ready to join the WTO, are rather good. And it gives Russia more opportunities to protect its inner market compared to other countries. Though no one denies that the potential threats still remain.

Source: www.fruitnews.ru

Russia’s accession to the WTO

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In the beginning of June, the Russian government approved the agreements for the country’s accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) and sent them to the State Duma, the lower chamber of the Russian parliament, for ratification.

All documents to become a full member of the WTO must be ratified by the Russian government, parliament and president by July 23, 2012. Russia spent 18 years trying to enter the WTO, completing its accession in December 2011.

The Federation Council is ready to ratify the protocol on Russia’s accession to the WTO meeting on 18 July, when by the time the document will be approved by the State Duma, told RIA Novosti on June 28, Federation Council Speaker Valentina Matvienko.

The State Duma will examine the documents at its meeting on July 4.

Sources: en.rian.ru, www.retailer.ru

Ag industry to benefit from Russia WTO membership

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Russia is expected to complete its full accession into the World trade Organization later this year after formally being approved late last year.

This could be good news for agricultural trade as tariffs have already begun  to be reduced.

Trade analyst Eric Trachtenberg, said  “Apple tariffs will go down, pear tariffs will go down, tree nuts… These are meaningful benefits for people looking to seek overseas markets for U.S. products.”

“It is still a large country and there’s economic growth, especially in the larger cities,” Trachtenberg said. “There’s rising disposable income, increasing real wages, and still falling unemployment and there is a dynamic and growing retail sector. There is strong product demand, some of it will come from direct sell to customers, some of it will come from increasing inputs to food processing.”

Source: www.freshplaza.com

Russia to cut duty on apple and pear imports

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RUSSIA will reduce import duties on apples and pears by nearly half after joining the World Trade Organization (WTO), and then cut them in half again by 2017. The import duty on pears will be reduced by half by 2015, according to Interfax, citing a document outlining Russia’s obligations upon accession to the WTO.

The current duty on apples imported from 1 January to 30 June is EUR0.10 pr kilo. Once Russia joins the WTO, which is expected to happen by the middle of 2012, the duty will drop to six euro cents/kg and by 2017 it is scheduled to decrease to three cents/kg (and to one and a half cents for apples imported from 1 April to 30 July). The duty on apple imports from 1 August to 31 December is currently EUR0.20/kg, depending on the type of product, and this will drop to six euro cents and then three euro cents per kilo by 2017.

Source: www.agra-net.com, www.interfax.com

Russia promised ‘to lower citrus import duties’

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According to a document seen by Interfax, Russia could be set to lower the import duty on citrus products within a year of its accession to the WTO. Duties will also be lowered on mandarin oranges, lemons and limes, the document suggested.

Import duties on oranges and grapefruits, which currently stand at 5 per cent, €0.02 per kg, will be maintained until Russia joins the WTO. However, in 2013 the import duty on oranges will drop to 5 per cent but no lower than €0.017 per kg, while on grapefruits it will fall to 5 per cent but no lower than €0.015 per kg.

Between January and September this year, Russia’s citrus imports grew from 873,000 tonnes at US$730.7m to 1m tonnes at US$979.3m.

However, import duties on bananas and grapes will not change, the document said. It will be kept at its current level of 5%.

Source: www.fruitnet.com, www.freshplaza.com

Russian government seen decreasing import duties under WTO deal

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The Russian government has agreed to decrease its average import duties on agricultural and industrial products as part of Russia’s membership in the World Trade Organization (WTO).

Specifically, average import duties on agricultural products are expected to be lowered to 10.8% from the current 13.2%, the WTO said.

Roughly 33% of newly set import duties are expected to come into effect when Russia joins the WTO, while about 25% are to be lowered in the next three years.

Source: www.prime-tass.com

Russia hopes to finish WTO talks by yearend

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Russia hopes to finish talks on gaining membership of the World Trade Organization (WTO) by the end of the year, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said on Sunday.

Russia has been in membership talks with the 153-nation WTO for 17 years and remains the only major economy still outside the organization.

Medvedev is now accepting in Moscow Swiss President Micheline Calmy-Rey, who said: “I hope that today’s talks will be successful and…Russia will join the WTO till the end of the year.”

“We would also like it,” Medvedev added.

Source: en.rian.ru