OREANDA-NEWS. August 10, 2009. The 10% duty was zero-rated in February this year due to a steep decline in prices on the international market. Within several months, a decision was adopted to reinstate the duty, reported the press-centre of FINAM.

The Finance Ministry has already priced the proceeds from nickel exports into its budget estimates. According to MinFin, the reinstatement of this duty will generate RUB 4.5 bn for the state in 2010-2012. Resumption of the nickel duty comes as no surprise for major nickel producer Norilsk Nickel.

“The issue was discussed with us. The state did us a favor, when we faced difficulties. But now we’re doing better and we need to share profit with the state, especially given the need to balance the budget”, the company’s CEO Vladimir Strzhalkovsky said in an interview with Vedomosti Monday.

According to him, “the issue is not just about imposing duties, since otherwise every time the price falls it would be necessary to revise duties. Along with the relevant ministries, we would like to develop a differentiated duty range pegged to price fluctuations, as is the case with oil now”, Strzhalkovsky said.