After the Latvian parliament last week temporarily banned imports of Russian and Belarusian agricultural products, Lithuania is not planning to follow suit.
However, Lithuania’s Agriculture Ministry said it will announce new restrictions on grain imports from Russia and Belarus on Monday.
“The ban is not a simple exercise in principle, there is a lot of pressure from both the World Trade Organization and other international organisations because of global hunger,” Rokas Petrašiūnas, adviser to the agriculture minister, told LRT RADIO.
“And the Latvians will receive a lot of criticism for this ban, so I think it will not necessarily go as planned,” he added.
Ignas Hofmanas, chairman of the Lithuanian Agriculture Council, said that Lithuania could follow Latvia's example.
“The Russian grain is imported into Lithuania completely freely, is not controlled, nor is its quality checked. And the quantities are much higher. As far as we know, at least 170,000 tonnes of Russian grain were imported into Lithuania in 2023,” he said.
Lithuanian farmers call on the government to make decisions to restrict the transit of Russian grain through the country. Hofmanas said he suspects that some Russian grain stays in Lithuania.
However, Agriculture Minister Kęstutis Navickas has assured that only a small amount of Russian grain passes through Lithuania and that all of it goes through the Klaipėda Port.
Last week, the Latvian parliament passed a temporary ban on imports of agricultural products from Russia and Belarus until at least July 2025. Latvia said the move is aimed at cutting economic ties with aggressor countries and that it is complementary to the EU sanctions.
Ukrainian grain
Lithuanian farmers will not join Polish farmers who are planning to block a road on the Lithuanian border for a week in protest against what they say is unfair competition from cheap Ukrainian grain imports.
“Lithuanian farmers have not, are not, and do not intend to block Ukrainian grain. We see the problem, but understanding the situation of Ukrainian farmers, we are not planning to block [Ukrainian grain] like the Poles,” Aušrys Macijauskas, head of the Lithuanian Association of Grain Growers told LRT RADIO.
According to him, Russian grain poses a bigger problem for Lithuanian farmers.
The 15min news website reported on Sunday that Polish farmers were planning to set up two new blockades from March 1, including one at the Lithuanian border. The blockade is planned to last about a week.
According to Petrašiūnas, hostile forces interested in EU countries fighting against Ukrainian imports could be fueling the conflict over Ukrainian grain.
“The quantities from Ukraine that reach Lithuania are relatively ridiculous, and practically nothing comes here in transit,” the Agriculture Ministry representative said.
Polish farmers launched a new wave of protests last Tuesday, blocking around 100 roads to the Ukrainian border.
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