The European Union has established protective duties on the import of many types of agricultural products from the Russian Federation, but this can greatly harm the Europeans themselves.
From July 1, Europe introduced high duties on the import of agricultural products from Russia and Belarus.
In particular, the duty on soft wheat is 95 euros per ton, durum wheat — 148 euros, duties on rye and barley are 93 euros, and on oilseeds, oils and pulp — 50% of the customs value.
Many farmers and exporters consider these duties to be restrictive, since supplies of agricultural products to the EU under such conditions are unlikely to be profitable.
At the same time, experts believe that for Russia the blow from the introduction of such duties is unlikely to be serious, since the EU currently occupies far from the most significant place in the structure of Russian exports of agricultural products.
It is planned that during the current season, more than 1.5 million tons of agricultural products may go to this market.
Such volumes can be easily redirected to other markets, analysts say.
According to statements from the Europeans, the goals of introducing such measures are to reduce Russian budget revenues and prevent cheap products from Russia from destabilizing the local market.
It turns out that the decision is largely political, because in parallel with grain from Russia or instead of it, cheap grain from Ukraine is also entering the European market, which can also destabilize it.
It is possible that the supply of rapeseed meal will be particularly affected, as it is a sensitive product that European importers will find difficult to source elsewhere.
At the same time, Russian suppliers will most likely be able to find opportunities to transfer these products to other markets without any problems. In particular, the markets of Africa, Asia and South America are promising in this regard.
These countries are already large consumers of Russian agricultural products, so there should not be any great difficulties in increasing volumes further.
At the same time, in recent years, the Russian Federation has already gained valuable experience in diversifying supplies and quickly restructuring into new markets, so this time there should not be any big problems either.
In addition, the European Union, refusing to supply products from Russia and Belarus, will be forced to purchase these products from other suppliers — accordingly, those countries that are now clients of these suppliers will begin to look for new sources of agricultural products. Therefore, Russian products will certainly be in demand in the end.
