Brussels (Brussels Morning) – Brussels recommends substantial tariffs on Russian and Belarusian grain to avert market instability, citing concerns about potential disruptions and illegal exports from occupied Ukrainian territories.
The European Commission has presented a steep boost in tariffs on Russian grain that arrives into the bloc’s joint market. The measure would involve cereals, oilseeds and derived products, like vegetable oil, that are harvested in Russia and are tied to be marketed in any of the 27 member states. The same goods arriving from Belarus, one of Vladimir Putin’s tightest allies that often supplies cover for his disruptive activities, would be equally subject to the rule.
Under the recommendation, the EU would hit a €95-per-tonne tariff on Russian maize and wheat, a sharp hike compared to the nil duties in place today. Other by-products would be subject to an “ad valorem duty” of 50% to reach the expected increase.
The figures are prepared to be so high that they prevent purchases of Russian grain, which last year-round to 4.2 million tonnes worth €1.3 billion. For its component, Belarus traded 610,000 tonnes with a value of €246 million. Although this denotes a small share of all EU imports, the Commission considers Russia, one of the world’s biggest agricultural producers, has enough ability to dump low-cost cereals on the EU and unleash market disruption, should Putin wish to do so.
The measure is basically preventive as no major disruptions have been caught for the time being. Strictly speaking, it is not an embargo but has very similar purposes: to deny Moscow of yet another source of income and ensure the grain its troops have looted from occupied Ukrainian territories does not find its path to European customers. In practice, EU companies would still be capable of buying, selling and storing supplies of Russian and Belarussian grain, even if it would no extended be economically tolerable due to the steep tariffs. Cereals that cross through the bloc’s territory to get to other countries, such as those in Northern Africa, would be exempted from the criteria.
The proposal, revealed on Friday morning, still needs to be supported by member states through a qualified bulk vote. The Commission had the programs ready to go but only pushed ahead with them after a conference of EU leaders in Brussels the day before. “There are several good grounds for making this proposal,” Commission President Ursula von der Leyen expressed. “It will contain Russian grain from destabilising the EU market in these products. It will prevent Russia from using the earnings from the export of these goods to the European Union. And it will guarantee that illegal Russian exports of stolen Ukrainian grain do not enter the EU market.”
During the meeting, Latvian Prime Minister Evika Siliņa and Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda urged for an all-out banning of Russian grain, which would have demanded the use of sanctions. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy also presented the matter in his virtual speech to EU leaders.”Unfortunately, the Russian key to the European agricultural market is still unobstructed. And when Ukrainian grain is tossed on the roads or railway tracks, Russian products are still being ferried to Europe, as well as goods from Putin’s commanded Belarus,” Zelenskyy stated. “This is not fair.”
Since the commencement of the war, the query of agriculture has evolved into a hot-button issue fraught with political repercussions. The foremost shockwaves were sent after Russian troops blocked the Black Sea and stopped Ukraine, a mighty agricultural exporter, from operating its traditional trade route towards low-income nations.
This encouraged the EU to make the so-called “solidarity lanes,” which excused all Ukrainian goods from tariffs and quotas and provided alternative paths by land. But the scheme was met with backlash in neighbouring member states, i.e. Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, Bulgaria and Romania, which grumbled about the glut of low-cost, duty-free Ukrainian grain unfortunate prices for local agriculturalists and filling up storage.
