As of August 31, 2010, Russia's Federal Tariff Service has reduced the tariffs for railway transportation of iron ore for export by 24 percent, thus stimulating the growth of Russian iron ore exports.
The 24 percent discount is applied to export transportation of iron ore from a number of Russian railway stations through transit Russian railway stations Zabaikalsk and Naushki. The discount in question could be set for railway shipments of iron ore per exporter of not less than one million mt.
The new tariff of Ruble 1,500 (about $49) per mt will be effective up to December 31, 2010 inclusive.
Accordingly, the decision to reduce the tariff for transportations of iron ore exports is due to the growth of iron ore prices in the world market, as well as to the increase of sea transportation of this raw material.
The introduction of the new tariff only to certain of Russia's east Siberian railway frontier stations is due to the fact that since mid-August there has been increasing demand for iron ore in most countries of the Far East, while the Zabaikalsk and Naushki stations are the main points of connection for the steel arteries of Russia, China and Mongolia.