MOSCOW, March 28. /TASS/. The planned introduction of duties on grain from Russia by the European Union will hit the EU countries, since they urgently need Russian hard sorts of grain, head of the agricultural regulator (Rosselkhoznadzor), Sergey Dankvert, told reporters.

Earlier, the Financial Times reported citing sources that the European Commission (EC) would in the coming days introduce duties on grain from Russia and Belarus in the amount of 95 euros per ton.

"First of all, this will hit their own market. The durum grain that we produce is processed there [in Europe]. These are Italy and Spain first of all. They need it very much. Of course, they can find it somewhere else, but it will be more expensive. Our grain is cheaper," Dankvert said.

"The problem for them is that they can automatically lose port capacities. They have lost capacities for fertilizers, they will lose port capacity for grain," Dankvert stressed.

"As far as markets are concerned, we have always tried - both when importing and when exporting - to diversify markets. We effectively work in other areas completely freely. And we benefit today from the market diversification that we were forced to do," the head of the regulator said.