Since the strengthening of inspections, grain imports from Russia and Belarus have almost stopped in Lithuania, but transit has increased

Since March 18, the Lithuanian State Food and Veterinary Service inspects every wagon or vehicle with grain imported from high-risk countries – Russia, as well as its occupied regions, and Belarus. The origin of the grain is checked and, as before, grain cargoes destined for the EU market are checked for impurities prohibited in the bloc.

As Mikalauskiene said, from January 1 to March 18, 184 shipments of grain were transported through Lithuania to the markets of Germany, Denmark, France, Belgium, the Czech Republic and other EU countries, and from March 18 to April 16 – 317 shipments, thus Russia and Belarusian grain transit through Lithuania to other EU countries has almost doubled.

The data at the service’s disposal show that until March 18, an average of 20-25 batches of fodder from Russia and Belarus were imported into Lithuania per day. On the other hand, 38 trucks with 1068 tons of fodder from Russia and Belarus have been inspected within a month since the introduction of stricter inspections. The importation of three batches was allowed, while the laboratory tests for the rest are ongoing. Last week, no batch was imported to the Lithuanian market.

In addition, since March 18, grain and processed products from Russia and Belarus for final consumption have not been imported into Lithuania. Another six trucks carrying fodder from Russia and 15 from Belarus were stopped at the border due to document inconsistencies.

As informed by the Lithuanian State Food and Veterinary Service, 28 of the 38 cargoes checked during the month were imported by the company “Pašaru eksportas ir importas” and the rest by the organic fertilizer and grain trader “Ekofarm”, the pellet trader “Rokjus”, the supplier of raw materials for the production of food products “Lavisos Konsernas” ” and agricultural raw material supply company “Imlitex agro”.

The information at the disposal of the news agency BNS shows that until the restrictions were introduced, the majority of fodder from Russia and Belarus was imported and loaded onto ships by the Klaipeda companies “Bega” and “Dognus”.

Data from the Food and Veterinary Service show that from March 18 to April 16, 292 batches of grain were exported from Russia and Belarus and EU countries through Lithuania – a total of 18,000 tons. The veterinary control of 97% of the batches was paid for by the sea cargo transportation company “Bega”.

The head of the service informed that only last week, 25 batches of grain for the German market were brought through the port of Klaipeda.

The State Data Agency informed that in January-February, only about 12,200 tons of corn worth EUR 1.95 million were imported from Russia to Lithuania.

According to the agency’s calculations, 30,120 tons of Russian corn worth 7.77 million euros, 6,190 tons of buckwheat, sorghum and other cereals worth 2.76 million euros, as well as 1,530 tons of Belarusian wheat and meslin, which is rye and wheat, were imported from Russia last year. mixture, worth 355,400 euros.

In March, the European Commission (EC) proposed to set maximum import tariffs for grains, oilseeds and their products, including wheat, corn and sunflower meal, in the hope of stopping the flow of Russian agricultural products to the EU market.

At that time, Lithuania, as well as Latvia, Estonia, Poland and the Czech Republic, called on the EC to completely ban Russian and Belarusian grain imports into the EU.

According to EC data, 4.8 million tons of grain worth 1.5 billion euros were imported to the EU from Russia and Belarus last year.

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