MOSCOW - Russia's Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich, who is in charge of agriculture, has supported a proposal to reduce a wheat export tax to zero, anAgriculture Ministry official said.
If approved, the proposal, originally made by the Agriculture Ministry, would allow exporters to stop paying 10 roubles ($0.15) per metric ton of wheat, the minimum level of the tax.
Dvorkovich backed the proposal at a meeting with industry players on Tuesday, DeputyAgriculture Minister Dzhambulat Khatuov was quoted by the ministry as saying.
A spokeswoman for Dvorkovich, Aliya Samigullina, told Reuters that the proposal was discussed at the meeting and that the final decision would be taken by Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev.
Dvorkovich's backing - coming after Economy Minister Alexei Ulyukayev also threw his weight behind the measure last week - makes it virtually certain the tax reduction will happen.
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The Agriculture Ministry has proposed reducing the wheat export tax to zero until July 2018.
Because the tax is so low right now, its removal would make little difference for the grain trade, but would ease risks for forward contracts.
At Tuesday's meeting, Dvorkovich did not say when the minimum level of the tax would be removed, two participants in the meeting told Reuters.
Under the existing system, the duty formula is set at half the customs price minus 6,500 roubles ($100) per metric ton but not less than 10 roubles per metric ton. Black Sea prices for Russian wheat with 12.5 percent protein content are about $172 a metric ton.
Russia is muscling in on the markets of its European and North American rivals as it overtakes the European Union to become the world's biggest wheat exporter for the first time.
Russia is expecting a record crop in the 2016/17 marketing season which began on July 1, while EU harvests are poor.
