PRESS: Russian government to mull excise on sweet beverages

MOSCOW, Jun 23 (PRIME) -- The Russian government has ordered the relevant agencies to consider an excise on sugary beverages to collect 10–20 billion rubles for the state coffers annually, Vedomosti business daily reported on Wednesday quoting two sources who participated in the discussion.

The sources told Vedomosti that two options are considered -- setting an excise whose rate depends either on the price of a beverage or on sugar content.

An Agriculture Ministry representative confirmed the order, saying that the ministry had received minutes of a meeting chaired by Valery Sidorenko, first deputy head of the Executive Office of the government, and the order was to suggest the criteria “of including sugary beverages into excisable goods,” the business daily said.

A Finance Ministry representative said that the ministry and other agencies discussed whether an excise on non-alcohol beverages that contain sugar or other sweeteners is reasonable. The decision has not been made yet, the government is working on it, the representative said.

The Agriculture Ministry is against the idea because this excise creates the risks of a price rise for the beverages with a simultaneous fall in production and consumption. It may also lead to contraction of the amount of producers and to creation of an illegal market of beverages.

Vedomosti said that the producers of sugary beverages are voluntarily reducing the sugar content. In 2019, the union of beverage producers signed a code of voluntary obligations, and one of its articles stipulates a 10% decrease of the average sugar content until the end of 2024.

It is not the first time that the Finance Ministry has suggested this excise. In 2016, it proposed an excise of 5 rubles per 1 liter of a sweet beverage, which should have added 25 billion rubles to the budget in 2017. The measure was delayed as it could have dealt a serious blow to the business during the crisis.

(73.1661 rubles – U.S. $1)

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