MOSCOW – Following a government resolution on rye and wheat exports signed last month, Russian authorities have implemented new export duties on cereals, effective from Jan. 15.

According to the resolution, the new duty will now be 0.025 euros per kilogram of cereals. Before the resolution, the cereals were duty free.

The Department for Government Information said the move is to protect Russian citizens as well as to preserve and regulate prices for bakery products in the country, according to Izvestia. Similarly, Agriculture Minister Alexei Gordeyev noted that “grain export limitations are an issue of balancing the interests of those working on internal and external markets.”