The commission made a series of decisions aimed at supporting Russian agriculture.

It recommended to the Government to harmonise the ad valorem component with the specific component of the combined customs import duty on butter. This will result in a rise in the euro component to €0.35 per kg from €0.22 while the ad valorem duty will remain at 15%.

The Commission also supported a proposal to temporarily raise the import duty on dry milk (for 9 months) from 15% to 20%. The participants especially emphasised that this policy wouldn't seriously affect domestic prices because over 90% of these products are imported from the CIS countries under zero duty.

Considering the current global food prices, and the high rice crop yields in Russia, the Commission concluded that seasonal rice import duties should be raised. Seasonal rice import duty will be set at €0.23 per kg for February 15-May15, 2009.

To support Russian producers in a tight economic situation, the Commission decided to cancel import duties on petroleum needle coke and pitch coke used in the production of electrodes for the steel and aluminium industries.

At the same time, import duties on graphitised electrode will be set at 5% of its customs value. In addition, combined customs rates will be applied to imports of 0.37 KW-7.5 KW three-phase AC induction motors.

Considering the recent drop in global nickel and copper prices, the Commission members agreed to cancel the 10% export duty on copper cathodes and the 5% duty on non-alloyed nickel.

Finally, the Commission decided to recommend to the Government to set a 5% import duty on soybean oil meal.