The European Commission has prepared a decision on the introduction of customs duties on the import of Belarusian and Russian grains into the EU. Itʼs about a duty of €95 per ton of grain. Also, Moscow and Minsk will no longer have access to any of the EUʼs grain quotas, which offer more favorable tariff regimes for some products.
This is stated on the website of the European Commission.
The President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen presented the corresponding proposal to the leaders of the European Union at the summit in Brussels.
The increased duties will apply to the import of grain, oil crops and processed products, which until now have been imported from the Russian Federation and Belarus to the EU countries mostly duty-free. In particular, it will be about wheat, corn, sunflower meal.
“We are proposing tariffs on these Russian imports to reduce the growing risk to our markets and our farmers. They will reduce Russiaʼs ability to use the EU for the benefit of its military machine," explained European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
They decided to introduce tariffs in the EU in view of the drop in prices on the EU grain market after the full-scale invasion of Russia into Ukraine due to oversaturation of the market. In 2023, Russia exported to the EU 4.2 million tons of grain, oil crops and processed products worth €1.3 billion. The volume of products from Belarus to the EU in the same period was 610 thousand tons worth €246 million.
The share of Russian grains on the EU market is insignificant, the European Commission emphasized, it is about 1% in total and about 5% of imports. Tariffs will make Russian products less attractive on the European market.
This proposal of the European Commission must also be approved by the Council of the European Union. Tariffs will be applied immediately after approval by the EU Council.
On February 22, Latvia was the first EU country to ban the import of Russian and Belarusian grain.