Take care of your own farmers
Five EU countries do not want grain from Ukraine
07/19/2023, 6:21 p.m
Poland, Hungary and three other countries see cheap grain from the Ukraine as a danger for their own farmers – also in the future. They want permission from the EU to continue to ban the sale of certain products in their home markets.
Poland, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia and Bulgaria still do not want to sell Ukrainian grain in their countries. The EU must extend a corresponding sales ban at least until the end of the year, declared the agriculture ministers of the five countries after a meeting in Warsaw. The EU has allowed them to ban domestic sales of wheat, corn, rapeseed and sunflower seeds from Ukraine since May. The permit expires in mid-September. In the Russian war of aggression, the countries are partly on the side of Ukraine. However, they have stated that the cheap products from Ukraine would massively harm their local farmers.
Solidarity with Ukraine is important, but the national grain markets must be protected, said Slovakian Agriculture Minister Jozef Bires after the meeting with his counterparts from Central and Eastern Europe. The five countries’ concerns have increased since Russia balked at extending an agreement that would have allowed Ukraine to continue exporting its grain globally through its Black Sea ports. This could mean that this grain is now increasingly coming onto the European market. Ukrainian grain arrives in the EU by train, truck or barge.
Poland wants to uphold the ban in any case
Polish Agriculture Minister Robert Telus said the EU must also find a long-term solution as the problem of Ukraine’s food exports will persist for years to come. Ministers have indicated that they would also like each individual country to be able to ask the EU to place certain products on a banned list. Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki has already said his country will not lift the ban on September 15 even if there is no extension from the EU.
Hungary’s Minister of Agriculture, Istvan Nagy, said that if there was no extension, his country would “take all measures to prevent further suffering for Hungarian farmers”.
Several Eastern European countries wrote to the European Commission in March that imports of grain, oilseeds, eggs, poultry and sugar from Ukraine had reached unprecedented levels. That’s why they brought up tariffs on Ukrainian agricultural imports. However, the EU has decided on the duty-free import of Ukrainian grain at least until June 2024. The Ukrainian Ministry of Agriculture had said that it understood that their farmers were in a difficult situation. But the situation of Ukrainian farmers is even more difficult.