EU agrees to hike tariffs on Russian grain imports from July

Bloomberg | May 30 2024 at 10:43 AM | International Trade

The European Union agreed to hike tariffs on imports of Russian grain to curb the Kremlin’s revenues and prevent those shipments from destabilizing the region’s farm sector.

The tariffs, which also apply to Belarusian grain, will be in place from July 1, EU trade chief Valdis Dombrovskis said on X. EU ministers also made the decision to tackle illegal Russian exports of stolen Ukraine grain into EU markets, he said.

“The regulation increases duties on cereals, oilseeds and derived products from Russia and Belarus to a point that will in practice halt imports of these products,” the EU said in a statement on Thursday.

Russia exported 4.2 million tons of grain and oilseeds to the bloc last year, but that amount is a small portion of the EU’s overall imports.

--With assistance from Katharina Rosskopf.