Hungary lifts ban on importing Ukrainian sugar

MOSCOW. Oct 11 (Interfax) - The Hungarian government has removed cane and beet sugar from the list of goods that could not be imported from Ukraine after September 15, 2023, Ukrainian media reported, quoting Agroinform.hu.

Cane and beet sugar, as well as hard sucrose, were removed from the Hungarian government's resolution on measures related to the transportation of certain agricultural products from Ukraine, which after September 15 limited the import of 24 items.

The decision went into effect on October 10.

As reported, the European Commission said on September 15 that it would not extend restrictions on imports of agricultural products from Ukraine to five neighboring EU countries with some conditions to avoid a new surge in supplies.

These restrictions were imposed on May 2 and concerned imports of wheat, rapeseed, sunflower and corn, to five EU member states, namely, Poland, Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania, and Slovakia. These countries said that Ukrainian agricultural products, when imported free of duty into the EU, were ending up in their countries and damaging their farmers.

After the restrictions were lifted, Poland, Hungary and Slovakia imposed unilateral bans. Poland expanded the list of products banned for import to include rapeseed cake and meal, as well as corn bran, wheat flour and other by-products. Hungary extended the list to 24 commodity items.

In response, Ukraine filed a lawsuit with the WTO accusing Poland, Hungary and Slovakia of discriminatory treatment of Ukrainian agricultural products. Ukraine is currently in talks to license the export of agricultural products with mandatory verification in each of the five countries.