Aluminum Duties to Be Cut

A government commission on Wednesday called for the import duty on primary aluminum to be cut and for the duty on aluminum alloy to be lowered to 10 percent of the good's declared price from 20 percent.

But the commission, chaired by Economic Development and Trade Minister German Gref, postponed a decision on whether to change the sugar import duty, his ministry said.

The government's Commission for Protective Measures in Foreign Trade, which discussed raising the tariff in working groups over the past few months, postponed its decision on sugar until July, the ministry said in an e-mailed statement.

The import tariff has been at $140 per ton since October 2004.

The government will keep import duties on mobile telephones at the level of 5 percent of their declared price. The commission also voted to lower the duty on video game consoles to 10 percent from 20 percent.

The import tariff on digital cameras will be canceled for nine months, according to the ministry.

The Cabinet must approve the recommendations of the commission for the new import duty levels to come into effect. The process normally takes several months.