(Bloomberg) -- The European Union is debating whether to hike tariffs on more Russian agricultural and food products, as well as fertilizers, according to people familiar with the matter.
Several member states eager to limit Moscow’s revenues have been urging the bloc to impose sweeping levies on agricultural and fish imports from Russia and Belarus into the EU, on top of the higher duties on grain products set earlier this year.
Others have urged caution, asking to assess the impact of any measures on European imports and food prices first, said the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private matters.
Trade measures don’t always require the backing of all member states, unlike sanctions. The EU is still analyzing which commodities it could target. Any move on fertilizers would likely be welcomed by Europe’s crop nutrient industry, which has been lobbying for more protections.
Still, the timing of any new tariffs is unclear given the legal and political hurdles, one of the people said.
Russia is the world’s biggest exporter of fertilizers with 18% market share. While the industry is not sanctioned, it was forced to cut exports on the back of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022 due to logistics and payments issues. The export has recovered since then and this year is expected to reach the record level of 2021, according to the Russian Association of Fertilizer Producers.
Agriculture, forestry, hunting, fishing and fish farming accounted for about 2% of Russia’s gross domestic product in the first half of this year.
Separately, work is ongoing on a new sanctions package, according to the people. But a broad set of measures may have to wait until after Hungary’s rotating presidency of the EU, with Budapest blocking most actions relating to Russia. Poland takes over the presidency in the new year.
Several governments asked the bloc’s executive arm this week to consider a narrower set of restrictions in the meantime, such as listing more sanction-busting vessels transporting Russian oil and making use of the EU’s new regime to designate disinformation actors, said the people.
--With assistance from Áine Quinn.
(Updates with Russian GDP statistic in seventh paragraph)
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