The suspension of deliveries of Ukrainian agricultural products via Black Sea ports imposed by Russia has provoked reservations in Eastern Europe and fears in the countries of destination.
The outcry was not long in coming. Just days after Russia declared the end of the grain deal with Ukraine and bombed the port of Odessa again, agriculture ministers from five eastern European EU countries called for an extended import ban on Ukrainian agricultural products. As in the previous year, the European Union offered Ukraine greater transit of grains and other products such as corn, rapeseed and sunflower seeds because of Russia’s blockade of Black Sea ports. Since the EU, in solidarity with Ukraine, renounced trade restrictions and tariffs after the outbreak of war, there is also a risk of flooding the European agricultural market, with negative consequences for EU farms.
Extended import restrictions
Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, Bulgaria and Romania had already applied national EU import restrictions after being flooded with supplies from Ukraine. But the rule expires in September. “We will meet in Warsaw and work out a joint declaration or agreement in which we urge the EU to extend the special regulations,” announced Hungarian Agriculture Minister Istvan Nagy. The five countries argue that the recent blockade of the Black Sea has caused their grain stockpiles to fill up with Ukrainian supplies, local farmers have run out of storage and prices have plummeted. Nagy emphasized that while corn and sunflower seed harvests are imminent in Hungary, warehouses are still full of competing Ukrainian products. “Obviously, given its size, Ukraine disrupts the market with everything it produces and exports to Europe. The situation is similar with chicken meat, eggs, honey,” said the Hungarian Agriculture Minister.
The Austrian Chamber of Agriculture also fears that the European market will be flooded. LKÖ Secretary General Ferdinand Lembacher also argues: “It is not in our interest for grain to be diverted from Ukraine to Western Europe.”