Hungary prepared to block Ukrainian grain imports if EU doesn't extend ban - agriculture minister
MOSCOW. Aug 28 (Interfax) - The Hungarian government plans to shut its borders to some grain products from Ukraine at the national level starting September 16, Hungarian Agriculture Minister Istvan Nagy said, according to Ukrainian media citing the Agrar Szektor website.
"If the EU doesn't extend the ban on imports of some Ukrainian grain products, which is expiring on September 15, Hungary will impose a ban not only on these four products [wheat, corn, rapeseed, and sunflower] but also on all of the 24 previous products to protect its domestic market," Nagy said.
The Hungarian agricultural sector has been hit by a series of shocks in the past few years, including the coronavirus pandemic, a drought, and the crisis in the neighboring country and its consequences, he said.
In addition, cheap duty-free Ukrainian products have flooded the European market, which also causes problems to agricultural producers, he said.
"Even though the harvest should be better than was expected, and corn [harvest] should reach a nearly record level this year, cheap competition hinders sales," he said.
Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, Bulgaria, and Romania, whose agricultural sector has been hit particularly hard by duty-free shipments of cheap Ukrainian agricultural produce, worked out a common position last week, its key point being that the ban on imports of a number of crops from Ukraine expiring on September 15 should be extended until the end of the year, Polish Agriculture Minister Robert Telus said following a meeting between representatives from the five EU member states.
Apart from that, the coalition of the five countries is in favor of the idea of subsidizing the transit of Ukrainian agricultural produce, he said.
"We want payments to be progressive, that is, to depend on where grain is shipped," he said.
The coalition also suggested that the list of products that cannot be imported from Ukraine should be "more flexible, so that something could be added to or removed from it," Telus said.
As reported, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry earlier described Slovakia's, Bulgaria's, Poland's, Romania's, and Hungary's intention to extend the ban on Ukrainian grain imports until the end of the year as "categorically unacceptable."
The Foreign Ministry called on the European Union leadership and the five countries, some of which have received extra financing for their relevant sectors from the European budget, to find a balanced solution based on the EU laws and the Association Agreement.
On June 5, the European Commission extended restrictions on wheat, corn, rapeseed, and sunflower seeds exports from Ukraine to Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and Slovakia until September 15, while their transit via these countries is allowed. European Commissioner for Agriculture Janusz Wojciechowski said recently that, in his view, the EU should extend the ban on imports of Ukrainian agrifood to the five countries at least until the end of 2023.
Ukraine has exported most of its grain and other agricultural produce via its Black Sea ports for years. However, the special military operation in Ukraine has drastically restricted the work of the ports, and Ukraine reoriented its export flows toward Europe. Large amounts of Ukrainian agricultural produce started flooding EU countries neighboring Ukraine, which triggered discontent of local farmers.