EU to increase tariffs on grain imports from Russia and Belarus

The Council of the European Union has agreed to impose high tariffs on Russian grain to reduce Russia’s revenues. This was announced by European Commissioner for Trade Valdis Dombrovskis.

“EU ministers agreed to hike tariffs on Russia/Belarus grain imports from July 1, to: stop Russian grain from destabilising EU farm sector, restrict Russia revenues to fund its war on Ukraine, tackle illegal Russian exports of stolen Ukraine grain into EU markets.”

Valdis Dombrovskis, European Commissioner for Trade

He added that the decision was taken to stop the destabilization of the EU’s agricultural sector, to limit Russia’s revenues, which it uses to finance the war in Ukraine, and to combat the illegal export of Ukrainian grain stolen by Russia to EU markets.

Last year, the EU imported 2.5 million tons of agricultural products from Russia. Italy was the largest importer of Russian grain, followed by Latvia.

At the beginning of the year, Latvian Agriculture Minister Armands Krauze said that Latvia intends to discuss with EU agriculture ministers a ban on imports of Russian agricultural products in order not to finance the war against Ukraine.