Hungary strengthens control of transport of grain and oilseeds from Ukraine
MOSCOW. April 10 (Interfax) - Hungary will introduce tighter controls over grain imports from Ukraine, and plans to resume import duties and quantitative restrictions on the import of Ukrainian oilseeds and grains, Hungary's Agriculture Ministry said.
"Our country is introducing new measures and will even more strictly control the grain coming from Ukraine to the corridor of solidarity, so that it can really get to the countries of its original destination," Agriculture Minister Istvan Nagy said, as quoted by the ministry's press service.
The minister noted that the crisis in Ukraine, erroneous sanctions from Brussels, the energy crisis and increased tax costs are creating serious difficulties for Hungarian farmers. The situation is further complicated by the fact that imports of grains and oilseeds are coming in and staying in unprecedented quantities in EU member states bordering Ukraine, including Hungary. In addition, the Ukrainian agro-industrial complex, whose products are completely exempt from European duties, have begun to export large amounts of poultry meat, eggs and honey to Europe, which is pushing Hungarian products out of their traditional markets and lowering local farmers' selling prices to below the cost of production, he added.
According to the press service, Budapest intends to introduce a mandatory Electronic Traffic Management System, through which exports of grains and oilseeds from Ukraine will be monitored. In this way, the regulatory authorities plan to get a more accurate idea of the volumes of grains and oilseeds arriving in the country by road, will be able to impose fines, and confiscate undeclared cargo as collateral.
Nagy recalled that the joint letter of the Prime Ministers of Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and Romania, as well as the President of Bulgaria to the President of the European Commission, contains a request to take immediate action to eliminate the unstable situation caused by the increase in grain imports from Ukraine.
As reported, in order to solve the problem with the overstocking of the Polish market and the protests of Polish farmers, Ukraine temporarily refused to export wheat, corn, rapeseed and sunflower to the country until the new season. Both countries will jointly develop new transit rules during the current week. For this period, it has been recommended that Ukrainian exporters use other routes.