On June 1, 2011, Russia’s Central Customs considerably raised the minimum cost of table wine imported to Russia from a number of European countries, which naturally meant the suppliers now have to spend more on the customs duty payments, RBC daily reports. The customs duty comes to 20% of the purchase price, and there exists the so-called control level of the customs price: this is the lowest price at which, in the customs officials’ opinion, wine is available abroad.

The new rules imposed by the Central Excise Customs might result in inexpensive imported wines growing costlier. Suppliers complain that the minimum customs price (off which a 20% duty must be paid) rose by 50% for French wines (and now comes to $15 per liter) and by 75% for Italian wines (and now comes to $7 per liter). If one does the calculations in euros, it turns out that France or Italy do not sell any wine cheaper than ?8 or ?3.7, respectively, per 0.75 liter bottle.