EU enacts new regulation significantly increasing import tariffs on grain from Russia, Belarus
(MENAFN) The European Union has enacted a new regulation significantly increasing import tariffs on grain from Russia and Belarus, as part of its continued sanctions against Moscow and its allies over the Ukraine conflict. According to a statement from the European Council on Thursday, these "prohibitive" levies will take effect on July 1 and will apply to cereals, oilseeds, derived products, beet-pulp pellets, and dried peas from both countries. The regulation aims to raise tariffs to a level that effectively stops imports of these products.
Additionally, the statement clarified that these goods will be excluded from access to the Union’s tariff rate quotas, but the regulation will not impede their transit through the European Union to third countries. European Union ministers stated that this measure is intended to prevent the "destabilization" of the bloc’s grain market and to reduce the revenue Moscow garners from agricultural exports.
The tariff proposal was initially announced by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in March, who asserted that the move would help mitigate the "growing risk" to European Union markets and farmers. While the latest statement does not specify the exact tariff amounts, the Financial Times reported in March that the levy would be an additional EUR95 (USD100) per ton for cereals and 50 percent of the value for oilseeds and derived products.
This regulatory change underscores the European Union’s strategy to exert economic pressure on Russia by targeting its agricultural exports, aiming to disrupt its financial inflows while safeguarding the stability of the European Union’s own agricultural markets.
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