EU to impose tariff of up to 50% on Russia grain imports

Wheat grain being loaded at Mariupol port before its departure for the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don last October. Photograph: Alexander Ermochenko/Reuters

The EU is set to impose a tariff of up to 50% on Russia grain imports amid fears the Kremlin could flood the bloc with cheap wheat to destabilise the European market.

The proposal, unveiled by the European commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, follows a plea on Thursday to EU leaders by the Ukrainian president, Vlodomyr Zelenskiy, to do something about grain “stolen” by the Russians from occupied territories.

“We propose the imposition of tariffs on these Russian imports to mitigate the growing risk to our markets and our farmers. They will reduce Russia’s capacity to exploit the EU for the benefit of its war machine,” she said.

The measure is intended principally to head off a potential illegal dumping of grain as the Kremlin seeks to weaponise as much as it can in its war against Ukraine.

“The main reasons for the proposal is to prevent the risk of destabilisation of the EU market through potential future significant redirection of Russian grain into the EU market, including by Belarus.

“This is something we want to shield Europe from,” said a senior European official.

Russian grain attracts low or no customs duties when sold in the EU but the proposal would lead to the imposition of a tariff of €95 a tonne of grain, which currently sells for up to €220 depending on the quality of the wheat.

Zelenskiy complained to EU leaders in Brussels on Thursday that Russian grain was still freely available in the bloc but its own grain was also being stolen while Polish farmers obstructed legitimate Ukrainian grain getting into the EU for transit to other countries, including poorer nations in Africa and Asia.

“When Ukrainian grain is thrown on the roads or railway tracks, Russian products are still being transported to Europe as well as goods from Putin’s controlled Belarus. This is not fair,” he told leaders in a video address at their summit.

Russian grain exports to the EU have gone up from 960,000 tonnes in 2022 to 1.5m tonnes in 2023, while at the same time production has rocketed from 35m tonnes to 50m tonnes between 2022 to 2023, EU officials said.

The European Commission proposal needs to be finally approved by the European council of member states but it could be rubber-stamped within days or weeks by qualified majority.

Von der Leyen told reporters on Thursday night: “We have proposed prepared a proposal to increase tariffs on Russian and collaboration imports of oil seeds and derived products.

“There are several good reasons for making this proposal. It will prevent Russian rain from destabilising the EU market in these products. It will stop Russia from using the revenues from the export of these goods to the European Union. And it will ensure that illegal Russian exports of stolen Ukrainian grain do not enter the EU market.”

Under the proposal, the EU would invoke the “security exception” in World Trade Organization agreement on the basis of the “emergency situation” arising from the war in Ukraine, officials said.

“Since the Russian production is very big and has increased significantly, we think they could redirect a lot of these exports, potentially even via dump prices to the EU. And we’ve seen how destabilising this can be,” said an official.