EU should extend restrictions on agricultural trade with Ukraine until yearend - EU commissioner

MOSCOW. Aug 21 (Interfax) - The European Union should extend the ban on imports of Ukrainian agricultural products expiring on September 15 by five countries neighboring Ukraine at least until the end of 2023, European Commissioner for Agriculture Janusz Wojciechowski said.

"My objective is to convince the European Commission and the member states that, first, the EU should subsidize the transit of grain from Ukraine to ports and third countries, and second, it should extend the import ban to these five countries, including Poland, at least until the end of the year," he said on Polish Radio.

Wojciechowski proposed that the EU should finance, as part of its assistance to Ukraine, the transportation of grain to designated ports from where the grain would be shipped to Africa and Asia.

The grain imports from Ukraine to the EU countries bordering that country are also a "harmful solution" for Ukrainian farmers, he said.

"This is largely a speculative trade: it takes advantage of the fact that [...] Ukraine has low prices and some people are trying to profit from this. [...] Therefore, it is necessary to block border trade, as it is now, and help Ukraine with transit, because this is solidarity at the global level, because there are some countries that are in dire need of Ukrainian grain," Wojciechowski said.

The transportation of grain from Ukraine via Poland does not recoup its costs, he said. The traditional sales outlets for Ukrainian grain were Indonesia and Egypt, and the road to these countries did not pass through Poland, he said.

Ukraine should export about 4 million tonnes of grain per month, he added. The EU is capable of transiting this amount of grain to ports, but "this requires funds," he said.

On June 5, the European Commission agreed to extend the restrictions on exports of wheat, corn, rapeseeds and sunflower seeds from Ukraine to five countries, namely, to Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and Slovakia, until September 15. At the same time, the transit of these crops via these countries is allowed.