Moscow, May 18 - Russia will set a 10 percent tariff on imports of palm and coconut oil for a period of nine months to protect domestic dairy products producers, the government said on Friday.
The new tariff will become effective one month after an order setting is officially published in the government gazette, it said. Normally a publication takes place within days after the Web site announcement.
Russia for the first time suspended a 5 percent tariff on tropical oils for nine months from September 2007 as part of a process to remove import duties on commodities which Russia does not produce, or produces in insufficient quantity.
Later it extended the zero tariff to March 2009.
The government Commission for Protective Measures in Foreign Trade, the body responsible for drafting orders on customs tariffs, initially decided to extend it further until June 1.
But later the commission made another decision -- to raise the tariff to 10 percent from June 1 to support the domestic dairy sector, whose products can be substituted by tropical oils.
Signing a government order is normally a lengthy procedure, and, as it was not signed in time, the old 5 percent tariff was restored from March. In April, a government order dropping the zero tariff until June 1 was signed and published.
Russia is a major buyer of palm oil, which constitutes the bulk of its tropical oil imports.