Russia Eyes Minimum 5 pct Nickel Export Duty

MOSCOW, Aug. 21 -- Russia will set a minimum 5 percent tariff on nickel exports when the metal is priced at $12,000 a tonne, and is considering raising the duty in stages when prices exceed $15,000, government sources said on Thursday. "The concept of the progressive nickel tariff pegs a 5 percent rate to a minimum nickel price of $12,000 per tonne," one source in the government's Commission for Protective Measures in Foreign Trade told Reuters.

    "The same rate may be kept until the price is below, say, $15,000 per tonne. If prices rise further, the rate has to follow suit, but the new rates have yet to be calculated by the government," the source said.

    Another source in the commission added that any increase in the tariff rate from 5 percent was not expected to be substantial.

    "After $17,000 and after $20,000 (per tonne), the fiscal burden is not expected to rise very much from the 5 percent," the source said.

    (Source: Reuters)