EU is considering imposing duties on all agricultural products from Russia and Belarus

The EU is considering the introduction of prohibitive duties not only on grains, oilseeds and their products, but also on any other food products from Russia and Belarus. This was stated by Belgian Foreign Minister Aja Labib at a press conference following a meeting of the EU Trade Council, where it was decided to impose “ultra-high” duties on grain from Russia and Belarus starting July 1.

“Sweden has proposed that the EU impose similar duties on other food products from Russia and Belarus, except for grain,” said Labib. She noted that the EU duty is a way to combat the sale of “grain stolen from Ukraine.”

Since the beginning of the war, the European Commission has consistently stated that the EU “does not impose restrictions on the Russian agricultural sector.”

Earlier, the EU Council approved the introduction of prohibitive tariffs on imports from Russia and Belarus starting July 1 for the following goods: wheat, corn, sunflower seeds, dried peas and derivatives, and feed products. The duty may be up to EUR 95 per ton, which corresponds to about 50% of the price of wheat on the European market (EUR 193 per ton, as of March).

According to the European Commission’s Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis, who presented the draft of this duty on March 22, it is “a de facto ban on the supply of grain, sunflower seeds and fodder crops from Russia and Belarus to the EU internal market by setting tariffs so high that it makes their import into the EU economically unprofitable.”

Tags: Russia, EU, agricultural products, restrictions