OREANDA-NEWS. February 03, 2011. The Belarusian Finance Ministry does not rule out an increase in the export duty on potash fertilizers, the head of the central department for taxation and budget revenues of the Finance Ministry, Dmitry Kiyko, told a news conference.

“We now apply a 50-euro-per-tonne duty, and we may consider increasing the duty given the recent contracts signed by OJSC Belaruskali,” he said.

According to him, it was important for Belarus to preserve the entire volume of potash export duties transferred to its budget during the talks over the Customs Union. “Other commodities are not so significant,” he said.

Commenting on the mechanism of collection of export duties within the Customs Union, Kiyko said export duties are transferred to the budget of the country that owns the commodities in question. “The duties are not split in this case,” Kiyko said.

The Belarusian government considers raising the export duty on potash fertilizers 50% to 75 euros per tonne.