The current customs duty is to be repealed for fish harvested in Russian waters.
Russian fishermen catch fish in Russian seas and are forced to pay a customs duty when it is brought into Russia. This in spite of the fact that these fish had been living in Russian waters all along.
Russian fishermen continue to working under these paradoxical conditions, which explains why much of any given catch is shipped abroad -- it is simply more profitable. This process results in a burden for consumers: they have to pay the costs of "imported" fish. These fish have actually left the country for processing, and then returned to Russia for distribution, thus crossing the border twice. Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin decided to put an end to this discouraging practice – a corresponding bill is to be prepared in the near future, and it will be adopted promptly without reservation.
"The fishing industry is supplementing the food programme, and for this they have to pay duties! Meanwhile all those who fulfill this programme should be exempt from these penalties and pay as few taxes as possible to build their business," said Ernst Smelov angrily. Smelov is the president of the Western Union of Fishery Businessmen. In fact, imposing duties on your own fish is the same as making Russian farmers pay additional duties when their products, milk, meat and bread, are distributed domestically. The only thing this accomplishes is price increases. Nevertheless, the government has only been able to concentrate on the fishing industry recently, probably because the economy includes a wide range of problems and there is only one prime minister in the country. "It is unfair when someone catches fish in Russia's own customs area and then has to pay duties as if it were imported," Vladimir Putin said.
The government decree that would address the problem and the amendments to the tax code, which would exempt the fishermen from duties, are to be prepared as soon as possible. The cost to the fishing industry is substantial: for example, the tax duties for importing fish and fish products into Russia totaled some 122.04 billion roubles in 2009.
But the payments themselves are only the tip of the iceberg. These perishable goods are rotting aboard boats while the fishermen wait for the green light from customs officials, who are rarely in a hurry to give it. The customs office is not the only problem. Rosselkhoznadzor is charged with inspecting the quality of the catch. The new resolution will eliminate this "superfluous link," Vladimir Putin said. The Federal Agency for Fishery (Rosrybolovstvo) will supervise sanitary standards from the fishing zone to the shore and the Federal Service for Supervision of Consumer Protection and Welfare (Rospotrebnadzor) will do so from the coast to the consumer.
As soon as the amendments are approved, there will be hope for more affordable seafood products in Russian shops. Of course, this is not a solution for every related problem. There are many issues involved including transport rates and the cost of harbour refrigerator rental. Just about everyone wants to make money on fish. It is worth noting that the retail price for fish is dozens of times higher than the price at the fishing boat.
Nevertheless, repealing the customs duties along with supervision by Rosselkhoznadzor is progress in its own right. "Thanks to the abolishment of these duties, domestic fish prices will come down. This absurdity should have been eliminated a long time ago. Russian fishermen are forced to pay customs duty for fish, caught in domestic waters and distributed to the Russian domestic market, as if it were an imported product! Now we only have to wait for the government to act," Federal Agency for Fishery spokesperson Alexander Savelyev says.
A growth in domestic supply must decrease the volume of imports. According to the specialist, this will happen no sooner than two to three months after the government resolution comes into effect. The food market has its own inertia, governed by stock reserves. Prices will not drop until the supply of expensive fish, the fish on which duties were paid, runs out.
Finansovye Izvestia
Konstantin Volkov, Ivan Rybin