The European Union (EU) has announced that it will impose high tariffs on grain and other agricultural products from Russia and Belarus, starting on July 1. This decision was made by EU trade ministers in response to concerns about the potential for further increases in imports of these goods into the EU.
The charges will be 95 euros per tonne for cereals and 50 percent of their value for oilseeds, as well as applying to beet-pulp pellets and dried peas. This move was proposed by the European Commission in March and has been met with disapproval from Russia, which criticized the EU’s intentions through its Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Vincent Van Peteghem, the finance minister of Belgium, which currently holds the EU presidency, explained that the tariffs aim to prevent destabilization of the EU’s grain market and to block Russian exports of grain produced in Ukrainian territories. The tariffs will not affect global food security, as they will not impact the transit of products through EU territory to third countries.
EU grain imports from Russia have been on the rise since the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, reaching 440 million euros in 2023. Despite this increase, concerns about potential further increases in imports led to this decision being made by EU trade ministers.
