Russia Extends 20% Soybean Export Duty to August 2028
Russia has extended its soybean export duty for two years, retaining the rate at 20% of customs value but no less than $100 per tonne. The decision balances rising exports and expanding crushing capacity against the risk that a higher tariff would reduce farmers’ margins.
Existing tariff extended for two years
Russia has extended its soybean export duty until 31 August 2028, keeping the rate at 20% of customs value but no less than $100 per tonne. The government signed the measure on 10 August, and it was published on the official legal information portal on 11 August, Vedomosti Analytics reported.
The duty was introduced on 1 February 2021 at 30%, subject to a minimum of €165 per tonne. It was reduced in May 2021 to the present rate. Far Eastern exporters have preferential access until the end of 2026: shipments within regional quotas face a 5% duty, but no less than $25 per tonne. The quota is 300,000 tonnes for Amur Region and 200,000 tonnes for Primorsky Territory.
The Oil and Fat Union of Russia had advocated raising the general rate to 30%. Executive director Mikhail Maltsev argued that a higher levy would retain more raw material for Russian crushers, particularly in the Far East. Anatoly Tikhonov, director of the RANEPA Center for International Agribusiness and Food Security, described the decision to retain 20% as balanced because processing plants remain acceptably utilized.
Record crop supports a surge in exports
Russia exported 1.7 million tonnes of soybeans in the 2025/26 agricultural season, three times the previous season’s volume, according to the Oil and Fat Union. Rosstat reported a record 9 million-tonne harvest in 2025, up 28% year on year. Planted area increased 10% to 4.8 million hectares, while yields rose 21%, from 16.7 to 20.1 centners per hectare.
The Institute for Agricultural Market Studies expects the 2026/27 planted area to ease to 4.6–4.7 million hectares. Production is forecast at 8.2–8.8 million tonnes, based on yields of 17.8–18.7 centners per hectare. The prospect of a smaller crop has intensified competition between exporters and domestic processors.
OleoScope analyst Lilia Ashirova said the current duty does not fully protect domestic supply because of the Far Eastern concession and increased shipments to Iran amid disruption to navigation in the Strait of Hormuz. Tikhonov also linked export growth to preferential Far Eastern rates and geopolitical conditions. In May, Agroexport head Ilya Ilyushin said Iran was actively buying Russian soybeans.
Processors and farmers face different incentives
Russia has about 10 million tonnes of annual soybean-processing capacity, while crushing reached 6.7 million tonnes in 2025/26, according to the Oil and Fat Union. Capacity is still expanding. Sodrugestvo is launching a 1 million-tonne oil-extraction plant in Belogorsk, Amur Region, while a facility capable of processing 900,000 tonnes of soybeans and rapeseed annually opened in Lipetsk Region in November 2025.
Estimates of utilization differ substantially. The RANEPA center puts soybean-processing utilization at about 82–84%, leaving room for another 1.2–1.4 million tonnes. The Oil and Fat Union estimates utilization at 67% and available capacity at 3.3 million tonnes. Maltsev warned that expected soybean imports of less than 0.5 million tonnes in 2026/27 would be critically low for processors.
Tikhonov estimated that, with the dollar at 90–95 rubles and an export soybean price of $420–440 per tonne, a 30% duty would cut exports by one-third to 600,000–700,000 tonnes. He calculated that farm profitability would fall from 30–40% to 22–28%, while domestic processing would increase by only 3%. Arkady Zlochevsky, president of the Russian Grain Union, went further, arguing that no soybean export duty is needed and that processors should instead offer farmers more attractive prices.
