European Commission proposes taxing Russian and Belarusian grain

PARIS (Reuters) -The European Commission proposed on Friday to tax certain Russian and Belarusian agricultural imports, in order to limit Moscow’s revenues and reassure European farmers.

Customs duties would amount to 95 euros per tonne of cereal and 50% of the market value of oilseeds and could be put in place once the proposal is approved by member states.

“We are proposing the introduction of these customs duties to limit the growing risks facing our markets and our farmers,” Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in a statement.

There are many importers of Russian grain outside the European Union, and it is up to experts to determine whether Russia or the EU will suffer more from the European proposal, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. .

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The EU is indeed worried about a possible redirection of Russian grain exports towards the single market, which would destabilize the bloc’s agricultural markets.

The Commission specifies that the measure will limit the profits that Russia can expect from its grain exports, with Russian sales to the EU having reached 1.3 billion euros in 2023.

“These prohibitive customs duties will make these exports economically unviable (…) and will also put an end to illegal Russian exports of stolen Ukrainian grain,” added Commission Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis.

The bloc will, however, not prevent the transit of Russian exports to third countries, so as not to disrupt global supplies.

(Report by Philip Blenkinsop, French version by Corentin Chappron, edited by Nicolas Delame and Kate Entringer)