A. Macijauskas: The West continues to pursue a dual policy towards Russia – Respublika.lt

Suspended imports revived

After a break of half a year, Lithuania resumed the purchase of agricultural products from Russia in February, according to the analysis of the data of the European Statistical Service conducted by “RIA Novosti”.

Lithuania stopped regular imports of Russian grain in 2023. in May, the last batch of them was received in July of the same year. The first cargo of grain since then arrived in Lithuania in February of this year – 12.2 thousand tons were imported. tons for 1.95 million euros.

At the same time, imports to Latvia also began to grow, which purchased 58.8 thousand tons from Russia at the end of winter. tons of grain for 10 million euros. A month ago, Latvians bought 52.6 thousand from Russians. tons, for which they paid 8.7 million euros. In total, EU countries bought 92.6 thousand in February. tons of Russian grain for 16.9 million euros.

In March, Latvia again banned the import of this product, and the EU submitted a proposal to limit its access to the bloc’s market by imposing customs duties on Russian agricultural products.

The State Food Veterinary Service (VMVT) clarified that from March 18 to April 16 of this year, 38 shipments (1068 tons) of non-animal fodder from Russia and Belarus were imported into Lithuania. All shipments have been checked and released into free circulation 3. The others are currently awaiting the results of laboratory tests. Due to documentary discrepancies, 6 shipments of non-animal feed from Russia and 15 from Belarus were returned from the Lithuanian border to the country of origin.

Cereal grains of non-animal origin and their final products intended for direct human consumption were not imported into Lithuania from the above-mentioned countries during the mentioned period, VMVT assured.

There is a rush due to the fear of price increases

According to the data of the Ministry of Agriculture, to Lithuania from Russia in 2024 February. 12.2 thousand were imported. tons of corn.

“The larger imported quantity may also be related to the fact that it was rushed to stock up on feed before the introduction of restrictions, which increase production costs and contribute to the disincentive to buy such products.

During the months of January-February of this year, corn was imported to Lithuania from: Poland – 52.1 percent. total imported quantity; Russia – 33.0 percent. total imported quantity; Ukraine – 12.9 percent. total imported quantity. Throughout 2023 30.1 thousand were imported from Russia. tons of corn. Almost the entire amount was imported in 2023. in April We draw attention to the fact that corn is used for feed, not enough is grown in Lithuania, so it is imported,” the institution clarified.

She also reminded that the principle position of the Lithuanian government is to seek to limit the import of Russian and Belarusian agricultural and food products as much as possible, but this requires EU-level legal measures, which are already being prepared.

“Lithuania, as a state, does not buy grain from Russia, but it is done by private companies in accordance with the existing legislation, although we always emphasize the moral aspect of such trade relations,” the ministry’s reply stated. – We also remind you that, first of all, in order to control the quality of Russian grain and fodder (and their products) imported into Lithuania, it was decided to tighten the import control of grain and fodder imported from Russia and other high-risk countries.

in 2024 March 24 the order of the head of the Ministry of Transport and Communications was signed to carry out stricter quality control for shipments of non-animal food as well. It should be emphasized that the final import procedures of the consignment of food grains and their final products intended for food will only be possible after receiving the relevant laboratory test results.

If the norms of laboratory tests exceed the permissible ones, such consignments will be sent to VMVT for destruction or technical processing. With the introduction of additional strict control measures, grain imports from Russia and other risk-taking countries have fallen sharply. After the introduction of the specified restrictions, the import of corn from Russia was not fixed.”

The institution pointed out that the European Commission (EC) took into account the request of the member states, including Lithuania, to take action at the European Union level and ban the import of grain crops from Russia and Belarus into the EU.

“We support the 2024 March 22 The proposal presented by the EC to increase the duties that will be applied to grain, oilseeds and their products imported from Russia and Belarus, but we also submitted a proposal to expand the list of agricultural and food products for which import duties would be increased.

Therefore, it is expected that due to the increase in the administrative burden due to the introduced national strict checks, most of the products transported from high-risk countries will become uncompetitive, and the new tariffs proposed by the EU are high enough not to encourage current imports into the EU, so imports of these categories should stop altogether.” predicted the ministry.

Despite the talk, the importation took place and continues

The president of the Lithuanian Grain Growers Association, Aušrys Macijauskas, specified that the import of Russian products to Lithuania had not stopped.

“In 2023, it even increased. Also, last fall, the Association publicly stated that by allowing transit through its territory and loading grain through the port of Klaipėda, Lithuania deepens the problem and does a favor to the Russian oligarchs. We still demand that both the import of grains to Lithuania and their transit through our territory be stopped,” said the head of the Lithuanian Grain Growers Association.

He reminded that during the farmers’ protest held in the capital, he met Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonyte, who assured that the Government would take measures to stop the import of Russian products.

“It was decided to do this by tightening quality and country of origin controls, raising customs duties and applying similar measures that make imports no longer attractive. The protest took place at the beginning of the year, and the control was tightened only in March, so we will see the effect of these measures only after two or three months, when we will have the April and May statistics, – further analyzed the situation A. Macijauskas. – And everything, as the example of the Latvians shows, could be done much more simply.

Their parliament has already made a decision to stop grain imports from Russia and Belarus. At the beginning, our seims also turned enthusiastically in this direction, prepared a draft law, but in the end everything fell into the drawer. I cannot say what led to such a decision, but maybe President Gitanas Nausėda will change something. We raised this issue during last week’s meeting. Then G. Nausėda assured that he, as the head of the state, would seek to limit imports from Russia and Belarus through customs fees.

And today we have such a situation that time is running out, there are no restrictions, so Russian grain continues to travel both through Lithuania and to it, thus harming both our and the EU market. Grain comes to Poland from Belarus, to Lithuania – from Kaliningrad or through Latvia. We suspect that this is being done deliberately, with the aim of dumping and thus destroying the markets of EU countries and causing dissatisfaction among local farmers. Such a policy is not new for Russia, but both the Lithuanian and EU Governments react to it very slowly.”

We are hostages of big politics

Imports, according to the specialist, do not stop, because big politics is going on, and Russia is winning that game. “Food products are not sanctioned by either the EU or the US, so they can be traded freely. This is happening because international organizations such as the UN or the World Food Organization are in favor of free trade in food, which is that if the EU stops or applies restrictions, there will be a food shortage somewhere in Africa or somewhere else.

In fact, they broadcast Russia’s narrative, which shows that this country’s propaganda is working, – said A. Macijauskas. – In reality, the world will not starve without Russian grain. Europe grows enough of them, and if something is lacking, they can buy from the Ukrainians, who protect not only 2023, but also 2022. harvest. Since we do not see mass purchases of Ukrainian production, it can be said that the West is losing the informational propaganda war.”

According to the head of the Association, the loss of Russian corn imports would be easily compensated by Ukrainian production.

“Ukraine is the largest exporter of corn and sunflower in Europe, and perhaps in the world. If someone needs this production, let them buy it not from the aggressor Russia, but from Ukraine. The decision is obvious to every reasonable person, but difficult for officials to understand, – A. Macijauskas said to the criticism of the decision-makers. – Lithuanian corn would be more difficult to compete with Russian or Ukrainian corn, but we could grow it ourselves.

For a long time, they were widely grown, but then the bioethanol program for which they were used ended, the demand decreased and farmers changed their priorities, since it is more profitable to grow canola or wheat. 12 thousand were imported from Russia. tons is not a large amount, because Lithuania is capable of growing 100 thousand. tons, but for them to be planted, a clear strategy for growing not only food grains, but also fodder grains is needed, which we don’t have today.”

Summarizing the situation, the specialist emphasized that the West, including Lithuania, is pursuing a hypocritical policy.

“On the one hand, Lithuania is boldly standing on the side of Ukraine and helping it, on the other hand – at the same time, endless concessions are made to Russia, although this should not be the case. The culmination of such a policy is the statement of our European Commissioner Virginijas Sinkevičius during the LRT forum that it is beneficial for Europe to trade with Russia: Europe sells food to the Russians for 14 billion. euros, and imports for 4 billion, so it has 10 billion. euro profit.

Maybe it’s good for V. Sinkevičius, but not for farmers, – emphasized A. Macijauskas. – The Seimas can ban imports and take measures to prevent transit by increasing rates or taxes. The state has leverage, but it requires political will and courage.

The latter, probably due to pressure from Brussels, which proves that it is “beneficial” for us to trade with Russia, our rulers lack it and no one opposes the European policy of trade with Russia. However, remembering that sometimes the attitudes of politicians change, as evidenced by the recent decisions of the US rulers, we can only hope that the EU will soon wake up and realize that trading with Russia, whether it is grain or gas, is not useful.”