The EU's decision to impose duties on Putin's wheat will result in a "punch" of over 40 million euros of additional duties on product imports from Russia and responds to Coldiretti's requests to protect Italian producers affected by the dramatic collapse in prices caused by the wild invasion of foreign products. This is what emerges from a Coldiretti estimate released in relation to the Financial Times news on the fact that in the next few days the European Commission is preparing to introduce a tariff of 95 euros per tonne on cereals coming from Russia and Belarus.

In 2023 - specifies a note from Coldiretti - there was an invasion of Russian durum wheat for pasta never recorded before in history, with almost half a million tonnes entering our country, more than 1000% more than the previous year, with a disruptive effect on the prices paid to Italian farmers due to speculation and unfair competition, according to the analysis of the Divulga Study Center.

Added to this invasion was that from Turkey, a country often subject to triangulations of Russian wheat itself, for a total of over 1 million tons of product which crossed national borders and reduced the price of Italian wheat by 60%. These are values which - Coldiretti points out - bring cultivation well below production costs, effectively making it uneconomical and exposing agricultural companies to the risk of collapse, especially in internal areas without production alternatives.

The Commission's idea of imposing duties - concludes Coldiretti - is a first step towards a decisive stop to unfair imports, to which more resources must be added for wheat supply chain contracts. Only in this way will it be possible to protect farmers' income.