Andrei Belyaninov suggested corruption was part of the problem.
"It has to be said that all confiscated contraband is usually sold later on the domestic market," he said. "This damages light industry most of all."
He said increasing wages for customs officers could help to resolve the problem and he also proposed establishing a serious system to deal with confiscated goods.
Belyaninov said that Russia's foreign trade as of June 10 amounted to $199.1 billion, which represented a year-on-year increase of 32%. Exports in the first half of the year were worth $142.7 billion, a 31% year-on-year increase, and imports amounted to $56.5 billion, up 32.6% in the same period.
He added that in the first half of the year 1.42 trillion rubles ($53 billion) had been collected in duties.
In May, a number of senior officials, including the then head, were fired from the service, which was also transferred out of the Economic Development and Trade Ministry and put under the government's control.
