Latvia increased import of Russian grain by 40%

The volume of grain imports from Russia to Latvia in the first quarter of 2024 increased by 39.8% compared to the same period last year.

Import of grain from the Russian Federation to Latvia in the first quarter reached 158,325 tons, which is 39.8% more than in the same period last year. This was reported by the Baltic media holding BNS.

At the same time, the value of grain imported from the Russian Federation in the 1st quarter amounted to 27.007 million euros, which is 6.2% less than in the 1st quarter of 2023.

The State Revenue Service of Latvia stated that goods that have passed the import procedure acquire the status of EU goods and can move freely through the territory of the European Union. They can be consumed in Latvia or exported to other EU countries without additional customs procedures. At the same time, the Latvian customs does not have information about how much Russian grain was actually sold on the domestic market of Latvia, and how much was exported to other EU countries.

As a reminder, at the end of February, Latvia introduced a ban on the import of Russian and Belarusian agricultural products at the national level. This ban should be in place until at least mid-2025.

In view of this, the European Commission allowed to increase the tariffs for the import of agricultural products from the Russian Federation.