Russia may introduce a new scale of nickel export duties in 2011 or earlier, head of tax and customs at the Russian Finance Ministry Ilya Trunin said on Wednesday.

"If the monitoring price is under $12,000 per ton, no duty will be charged. Above that, it will be 5-7 percent, while the maximum duty, amounting to 30 percent, is charged if the price exceeds $20,000 per ton," Trunin said.

The new rate scale has already been approved by the government's customs and tariffs subcommission, headed by First Deputy Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov, and could be introduced in 2011 or earlier, he added.

Russia's Norilsk Nickel is the world's leading nickel producer.

MOSCOW, July 21 (RIA Novosti)