Russian brewers proposed to raise duties on imports of foreign beer 55 times compared to the current, “Vedomosti” write. With the relevant proposal to the Minister of Economic Development, Maxim Reshetnikov addressed the head of the Union of Russian Brewers (PSA) Daniel Briman.
In a letter, Briman asks to establish duties at the level of one euro per liter of imported beer – instead of the current 0,018 euros per liter. The Ministry of Economic Development is currently being worked out by the introduction of duties on some types of alcoholic beverages imported from the European Union. Such a measure will be answered by the EU policy to limit the supply of steel products. The agency notes that it acts within the framework of the Rules of the World Trade Organization (WTO).
According to Briman, acting duties are “symbolic” and do not interfere with the import of beer. In addition, they are significantly inferior to the rates of duties on other alcoholic beverages and on imported raw materials for them, including hops and malt.
According to Briman, until 2012, duties on beer were higher and accounted for 0.6 euros per liter, but then were reduced in connection with Russia’s accession to the WTO. Now the share of imported beer in the domestic market is about four percent. In 2020, imports increased by 20 percent.
The leader among foreign suppliers is Germany with a 40 percentage of the total importation. In second place is the Czech Republic with a share of 10 percent. According to Briman, the beer, produced by special technologies and inferior to the quality of domestic, often comes to Russia.
Earlier, the PSA has already appealed to Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustina with a request to increase export duties on beer, as well as introduce tariffs for the export of barley and malt. So the organization is going to fight the rise in price of beer in the domestic market in 2022.