The Association of Russian Viticulturists and Wine Producers (AVVR) has asked the Moscow authorities to increase the duty on importing wine from NATO countries tenfold, bringing it to 200%.
A measure which, if adopted, would practically risk eliminating Italy's sales to Russia, currently among the top ten exporters together with Georgia, France, Spain, Portugal and the Baltics.
In the first ten months of 2023, the value of Italian exports in the sector was 124.5 million euros, with an increase of 3.9% on the same period of 2022. The duty on imports from "non-friendly" countries, including Italy, has already been raised last summer from 12.5% to 20%, and was followed by a decline in Italian exports, which suffered a contraction of 7.9% over the whole of 2023.
The request for the new, dramatic increase was made to the government and to the Duma, the lower house of Parliament, according to what Alexei Plotnikov, executive secretary of the trade organization, told the Ria Novosti agency.
The move was motivated by the need to strengthen measures to protect Russian producers.
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