The Ministry of Industry and Trade has developed a plan to increase the amount of the recycling fee, calculated until 2030.
According to today's standards, all automobile companies operating in the production, import and sale of cars in the Russian Federation must pay a recycling fee. At the same time, local producers (subject to a high degree of localization) receive a large part of the amount paid back in the form of subsidies. From time to time, local authorities decide to increase the recycling collection: as a rule, the consequence of this is an increase in the price of cars, especially for imported ones, as well as those assembled in the Russian Federation, but with a low level of localization.
Now the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation has prepared a plan for increasing the recycling fee for cars, commercial vehicles and other equipment, calculated until 2030. The corresponding draft will soon be presented for public discussion. As Kommersant reports, the document provides for the immediate introduction of a payment increase scale until the beginning of the next decade.
The increase in recycling collection will affect passenger cars, light commercial vehicles, trucks, buses, semi-trailers and some categories of road construction equipment. According to the draft resolution, which was prepared by the Ministry of Industry and Trade, in 2024 the amount of tax on cars and semi-trailers will increase on average by about 70-85%, and then will grow by 10-20% annually.
If the document is approved, already this year the increase in recycling collection for cars with an engine capacity of 1.0 to 2.0 liters will increase by 85% (or by more than 250 thousand rubles) — up to 556 thousand rubles. Approximately the same increase may ultimately be reflected in the retail price tags of cars on the Russian market. It is worth noting that according to earlier calculations, the payment for cars of the same segment by 2030 could reach approximately 1 million rubles.
The publication added that the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation for the first time decided to discuss a long-term plan for increasing the recycling fee. The department suggests that this approach “can help create predictable conditions for making investment decisions by domestic and foreign manufacturers ready for localization.” We note, obviously, that this could put a final end to the import of cars in the budget and mid-price segments into the country.
According to Sergei Udalov from the Autostat agency, increasing the recycling fee will have a positive effect — in predictability for market players on several years ahead. “It is important that we do not deviate from the parameters laid down for future years, and this really makes it possible to plan projects,” the expert explained.
According to Autostat statistics, at the end of 2023, imported cars accounted for 54% of total sales of new passenger cars in the Russian Federation. Of these, the share of vehicles imported through official import (mainly from China) accounted for 42%, and the share of those supplied under the parallel import scheme accounted for 12%. According to the agency’s calculations, a total of 1,058,708 new passenger cars were sold on the Russian market last year, that is, all imports accounted for about 571.7 thousand cars (of which 444.7 thousand were official, and parallel – 127 thousand units).