EU Raises Customs Duties on Grain from Russia and Belarus

The purpose of the customs duty, which came into force at the beginning of July, is to eliminate demand for Russian products in Europe.

The established import duty reaches 95 euros per ton of product and increases the price of Russian grain by 50%.

However, Russian grain going through the EU to other countries is not taxed. This is an attempt to ensure that third countries do not suffer from sanctions.

The customs duty also applies to Belarusian products, since Belarus allowed Russia to use its territory to attack Ukraine.

“The tax changes that came into force entail new customs duty rates for more than a hundred goods,” said Külli Kurvits, head of the customs clearance department at the Tax and Customs Board. “We mainly deal with various grain products or cereals, such as rye, barley, wheat, corn, millet and buckwheat. This also includes other goods, such as oils that are then produced from them – rapeseed oils or refined oils, i.e. the list of these goods is very wide.”

“There are two main tax rates – one is levied on the quantity of goods and is 95 euros per ton. The second tax rate is levied on the value and is 50%, that is, 50% of the value of the goods is added to the price of the goods in the form of customs duty,” Kurvits explained.

The official noted that Russia is a leading producer and exporter of these products. “These new tax rates have been set throughout the European Union, and the reason is that Russia is a leading producer and exporter of these products in the world and that this will not cause any disruption to the European Union market, so it was decided to introduce certain customs duties as a preventive measure.”

Restrictions have also been established for Belarus so that the flow of goods is not redirected from Russia to Belarus, Kurvits noted.

Kurvits said that the grain duty does not affect Estonia’s trade, as these products come to Estonia from other countries. “From Estonia’s point of view, this is not a very large area in which Russia or Belarus might be our trading partner. Most of these goods come to Estonia from other countries.”

This is the first EU restriction on Russian agricultural products since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine two years ago.

Russian exports of grain, oilseeds and products from them to the EU increased to four million in 2023, which is the highest figure in history. Russian imports accounted for one percent of grain consumption in the EU.