Ukraine’s Neighbors Ban Grain Imports (Worthy News In-Depth)
By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
WARSAW/BUDAPEST (Worthy News) – Five European Union nations will extend their ban on Ukrainian grain imports “to protect their farmers,” rejecting an EU-imposed deadline to lift the restrictions, Hungary’s agriculture minister confirmed.
Minister István Nagy said he and his counterparts from Poland, Bulgaria, Romania, and Slovakia agreed in Warsaw to extend local sales bans beyond September 15 on Ukrainian grain until the end of the year.
Except for Bulgaria, all the countries border Ukraine, which faced a setback Monday when Russia withdrew from a grain deal that allowed Ukrainian food to be shipped through the Black Sea safely. That has led to international concerns that hundreds of millions are hungry.
Ukraine is a major exporter of wheat, barley, vegetable oil, and corn. The move by the coalition of five Central and Eastern to extend their import ban on Ukrainian grain came as Hungary’s government faces criticism over its perceived cozy relationship with Russia.
But Nagy said Hungary would “use every facility to protect Hungarian farmers” unless the EU postpones the deadline for lifting the ban until at least December 31.
Nagy clarified they were prepared to be transit countries for Ukrainian products if Kyiv couldn’t export from its Black Sea ports.
THIRD COUNTRIES
Hungary and the other four countries want Ukrainian grain to reach “third countries where needy residents are very much looking forward to receiving those goods,” Nagy stressed.
He claimed that the import ban of the coalition of five Central and Eastern European nations was not targeted against Ukraine or its farmers but aimed “to protect our producers.”
However, he insisted that “the grain must not remain stuck in countries bordering Ukraine due to the high transportation cost on land.”
Farmers launched protests, and the countries passed bans in April without EU approval, with Brussels calling it a threat to European unity amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The EU later allowed the nations to temporarily prohibit some agricultural products from Ukraine and provide farmers with more aid. Ukrainian grain is allowed to pass through to other markets in sealed and guarded transports, but in practice, that isn’t always the case.
The EU commissioner for agriculture, Janusz Wojciechowski, a former Polish agriculture minister, acknowledged in May that some 4.1 million tons of Ukrainian corn, barley, and canola grain came to Poland from April 2022 through March 2023, with 3.4 million tons remaining there and only about 700 tons moving through. The EU’s internal open borders also make trading food products easier.
POLAND BAN
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, who also attended Wednesday’s talks in Warsaw, said Poland would, therefore, not open up for Ukrainian grain soon.
He explained that Poland only wanted to facilitate the transit of those products. “Either the [European Union’s executive] European Commission rules to extend the ban, or we will do it unilaterally or in cooperation with other countries. We will protect Polish farmers,” Morawiecki said.
Slovak Agriculture Minister Jozef Bires asked the EU and Kyiv to understand their situation.
“We support Ukraine in every way, but under the condition that food imports can’t distort the internal market,” Bires said.
There was a negative impact on prices for local farmers linked to the oversupply, such as strawberries and raspberries in Poland, he added. “We are in the process of harvesting, and some of our warehouses are full due to the past grain imports,” Bires stressed.
Hungary’s Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said he realized that the collapse of the grain deal between Ukraine and Russia means “that central Europe plays an even greater role” in transporting grains from Ukraine. But he, too, warned that the transit routes shouldn’t be used for “profit-making.”
The EU’s executive European Commission has made clear, however, that it would phase out the “exceptional and temporary” ban introduced by the central and eastern European countries.
SOLIDARITY LANES
After Russia ended the Black Sea deal on Monday, the EU said it would “spare no effort” to support the stable delivery of agricultural products from Ukraine to global markets via so-called “solidarity lanes.”
More than 45 million metric tons of grain, oilseeds, and other products have been exported through Europe, said the European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
The Black Sea Grain Initiative, brokered by the United Nations and Turkey to end a global food crisis caused by Russia’s war in Ukraine, allowed an additional 32.9 million metric tons to get to the world, according to the U.N.
Kyiv has therefore urged the EU to end the ban on its crop exports in Central and Eastern Europe, saying it was helping Russia to intensify pressure on Ukraine’s economy.
The Ukrainian Grain Association has pushed to send more grain through the Danube River to neighboring Romania’s Black Sea ports, saying it’s possible to double monthly exports along that route to 4 million metric tons.
But Cezar Gheorghe, founder of Romanian grain analyst firm AGRIColumn, said in published remarks that’s “not possible.”
MUCH EXPORT
Between March 2022 and June 2023, some 20 million tons of Ukrainian grain passed through the Romanian ports of Constanta, Galati, and Braila — the maximum that could be handled, he added.
“Ukraine will need to disburse also through Poland, Hungary, Slovakia — it is simple math,” Gheorghe said.
“We will stand alongside Ukraine, but through our limitations,” the leading analyst added.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Wednesday that besides through EU nations, his government also tries to export via the Black Sea despite Russia pulling “safety guarantees” for ships.
Moscow invaded Ukraine in February last year in a war that disrupted food supplies from one of the world’s breadbaskets.
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