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MOSCOW. April 21 (Interfax) - Russia will extend its ban exports of paddy rice for the period from July 1, 2025 until the end of the year.

Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak's secretariat said the sub-commission for customs-tariff and non-tariff regulation and foreign trade safeguards backed the Agriculture Ministry's initiative on the matter.

An exception was made for seed rice.

A decision was reached to introduce for the same period a tariff quota of 50,000 tonnes on the export of hulled rice and rice groats outside the EAEU. It is proposed to set the export customs duty rate at 0% within the quota and at 50% for exports above the quota. A draft resolution on the matter will be submitted to the government for consideration in the near future.

Also, the Russian Economic Development Ministry's press office said preserving the opportunity to export milled rice in 2026 and in subsequent periods was now being scrutinized. Exports might be possible if the rice harvest exceeds 1.1 million tonnes. The sub-commission should reach a decision in the third quarter of this year.

"The opportunity for exports will encourage the further development of rice farming in Russia," the ministry said.

Russia banned rice exports on July 1, 2022, due to an accident at the Fedorovsky waterworks in Krasnodar Territory, the country's main rice producing region, that April which reduced Russian rice production to 920,100 tonnes that year. The purpose of the ban was to keep the domestic market supplied with rice groats. The ban was in force until December 31, 2022, then extended every half year, most recently until June 30, 2025.

The ministry said the measure was needed to meet domestic market needs, maintain price stability and prevent a shortage of this product.

Rosstat said Russia harvested a record 1.259 million tonnes of rice in 2024, compared to 1.073 million tonnes a year earlier.

The Econ Ministry expects Fedorovsky waterworks to reopen following renovation by 2027.

Source : interfax