Lithuania will require origin tests and customs approval for certain Russian and Belarusian food-grade grain shipments from Monday, Nov. 16, leaving operators to pay testing and potential return or destruction costs.
The controls cover wheat, barley, maize and sunflower seeds in transit when cargo is transloaded or temporarily held in a customs-supervised warehouse in Lithuania. The State Food and Veterinary Service (VMVT) will review documents, inspect the cargo and take a sample from each qualifying shipment. Customs may process the grain only after receiving VMVT approval, the Agriculture Ministry said in a Nov. 10 notice.
The ministry says laboratory analysis may take two months or longer. An Agriculture Ministry official told Reuters that Lithuania lacks a laboratory for the required tests, so samples must be sent abroad.
If test results indicate a greater than 50% probability that the declared origin does not match the grain’s origin, authorities will return the shipment to the exporting country or destroy it under customs supervision. If the grain cannot be separated from other shipments stored with it, the same decision will apply to those cargoes.
The responsible operator must pay the state fee and the costs of testing, return or destruction, the ministry said. Reuters reported that exporters will also bear storage costs.
The new procedure extends earlier origin checks on transit grain intended for animal feed to food-grade products. In a September notice, the ministry raised concern that some shipments might use simplified transit arrangements or be described as food grain to avoid existing feed-grain checks. It says the expanded screening is intended to identify possible discrepancies in declared origin and prevent grain illegally removed from occupied Ukrainian territory from reaching international markets.
Audronė Mikalauskienė, head of the VMVT, said in an English translation of her statement: “We will inspect, verify and stop shipments for as long as needed.”
Estonia prohibited transit of Russian and Belarusian cereals from Oct. 8. The Council of the European Union says higher tariffs on Russian and Belarusian grain products entering the EU market do not apply to transit through the bloc to third countries.
As of Nov. 10, five samples from two shipments of unclear origin remained under testing abroad, with no results reported, LRT said, citing BNS.
