EU moves against grain imports from Russia and Belarus

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Brussels has proposed cutting grain imports from Russia and Belarus by levying tariffs to increase pressure on Moscow and appease protesting farmers across the bloc, as some EU leaders press for tougher curbs on Ukrainian produce.

European trade commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis on Friday said that the increased prices would in effect ban imports — hitting Russian revenues — and would also ensure no grain stolen from Ukraine and passed off as Russian would enter the bloc.

The Russia tariffs come after the EU this week agreed some restrictions on Ukrainian agriculture imports, caving into pressure from farmers who took to the streets in France, Belgium and blocked the Ukrainian-Polish border in recent months.

The bloc had dropped tariffs and quotas on Ukrainian imports in 2022 as a means to help the war-torn economy. But on Wednesday, Brussels reached a provisional agreement to put caps on sensitive foodstuffs such as poultry and eggs from June — and to allow emergency national restrictions to protect domestic markets from cheaper Ukrainian imports.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk and French President Emmanuel Macron on Friday were expected to push for even lower caps on Ukrainian imports at an EU summit in Brussels.

Tusk and other central and eastern European leaders have long pressured Brussels to restrict Russian and Belarusian imports, which have so far been shielded from western sanctions in response to Moscow’s war in Ukraine. Some capitals argued that such a move would disrupt global food markets and deprive developing nations of vital supplies. 

But the European Commission on Friday proposed a €95-per-tonne duty on cereals from Russia and Belarus and tariffs of 50 per cent on oil seeds and derived products. 

That would increase prices by at least 50 per cent, officials said, eradicating demand. EU imports from Russia of the affected produce — cereals, oil seeds and their derivatives — reached a record of 4mn tonnes in 2023 and earned €1.3bn.

That makes up only 1 per cent of overall EU consumption but officials said Russian cereal exports had increased by almost half since its full scale invasion of Ukraine in 2002 and could flood the EU market.

Dombrovskis, who is a former Latvian prime minister, said: “Our proposed prohibitive tariffs will make imports of these products commercially unviable, thereby also preventing possible future surges that could destabilise the EU food market. It will also help put a stop to the Russian practice of illegally exporting stolen Ukrainian grain into the EU.”

He added it would not prevent the transit of Russian and Belarusian grain products to countries in Africa and Asia. “We have been careful to uphold global food security.”

Latvia in February imposed a unilateral ban on many food imports from Russia and Belarus, while Lithuania announced cargo inspections.