① The European Commission announced that it will raise import tariffs on Russian and Belarusian grains. The purpose of this move is to limit Russian revenue while preventing these grains from destabilizing the local European market; ② According to an official press release, the EU currently exempts these products from tariffs or only imposes a small amount of tariffs, but future tariffs will rise to the extent that imports of these products will actually be stopped.
Financial Services Association, May 30 (Editor Xia Junxiong) On Thursday (May 30) local time, the European Commission announced that it will raise import tariffs on Russian and Belarusian grains. This move aims to limit Russian revenue while preventing these grains from destabilizing the local European market.
On March 22 this year, the European Commission proposed imposing tariffs on Russian and Belarusian grain to protect European farmers while punishing Russia.
The EU Council passed the proposal on Thursday. According to an official press release, the agricultural products targeted this time are Russian and Belarusian grains, oilseeds and their products, dried peas, and beet pellet meal. Currently, the EU is exempt from tariffs or only a small amount of tariffs on these products, but future tariffs will be raised to the extent that imports of these products will actually be stopped.
The European Commission emphasized that the above measures target agricultural products directly or indirectly exported from Russia or Belarus to the EU, but they do not involve goods that the two countries transit through the EU to other third countries.
The regulation will be published in the Official Journal of the European Union and will officially enter into force on July 1, 2024.
Since the Russian-Ukrainian conflict escalated in February 2022, the EU has introduced 13 rounds of sanctions against Russia, covering various economic sectors, but until now it has avoided sanctions against Russia's agriculture and fertilizer industries due to concerns about destabilizing the global grain market. Russia is an important global exporter of agricultural products, and its share of wheat and fertilizer exports is number one in the world.
Russia exported 4.2 million tons of grains and oilseeds to the European Union last year, which accounts for only a small portion of its exports. As a result, the EU's increase in import tariffs on Russian grain is largely symbolic, and this may be to appease Ukraine.
After the Russian-Ukrainian conflict broke out, the EU allowed Ukrainian agricultural products to be imported duty-free into its territory. Large quantities of cheap agricultural products impacted the local market, causing European farmers to launch strong protests, forcing the EU to restrict imports of Ukrainian agricultural products. The Ukrainian side complained that Russian grain has unrestricted access to the EU market, while Ukraine's imports are restricted, which is unfair.