26/7 Tass 342
MICHURINSK, July 26 (Itar-Tass) —— Russian President Dmitry Medvedev believes privileged grain transportation tariffs may be extended.
“As for long-term solutions on privileged tariffs for five years or something like that, it would be a worthy step from the state,” the president said at a meeting on the grain market situation.
“I do not know whether it is possible with due account of the financial situation and so on and so forth, but it would be possible to practice it, if not for five years, but so that the producers could make some plans,” he noted.
The grain producers offered Dmitry Medvedev to make privileged grain transportation tariffs five years in effect, particularly for Siberia and the Far East.
“We have a systematic problem. The Federal Tariff and Duties Service approves the tariff rates before December 31 of each year and extends the rates each year, if it is decided to keep the privileged tariffs,” the president of the Russian Grain Union Arkady Zlochevsky said at a meeting chaired by the Russian president. He asked the president “to make a long-term solution” for Siberia and the Far East.
“It is extremely important for investments. Just for five years,” Zlochevsky said, noting that many investments were lost due the current rules to extend the privileged tariffs each year. He noted that extended privileged grain transportation tariffs are a vital measure.
“I would like to ask for making the situation quite opposite (a longer distance from Siberia as compared with southern Russia) as for the tariff rates, which we had in the previous season on domestic shipments from Siberia – 70% of a discounted tariff rate for the distance of over 100 kilometers, from the south – over 300 kilometers,” the president of the Russian grain union said.