EU farmers are struggling – they don’t know where to put corn, sunflowers and apples from Ukraine Six European countries demand Ukraine to limit the supply of cheap agricultural products 01/30/2023, 20:55

Cheap grain imports from Ukraine pose a problem for the agricultural industries of six EU countries – Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. This is stated in the joint statement to report these states are published on the website of the Council of Europe.

The document states that EU countries are making every effort to facilitate the supply of agricultural products from Ukraine, especially grain products. Customs duties have been abolished especially for such goods. One of the consequences of this policy was a significant increase in the volume of grain from Ukraine in the markets of neighboring countries.

“There are now increasing signals that if these supplies are not limited, it could cause serious difficulties for EU producers in the agricultural sector,” the authors of the report wrote.

Representatives from Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia emphasize the need for an urgent response to the situation, as agricultural producers in Eastern European countries have already suffered from the Ukraine conflict – their costs have increased significantly due to rising prices. fuel, fertilizer and electricity.

According to the information provided by the EU, the growth in grain imports from Ukraine in 2022 has increased by tens and hundreds of times. For example, between January and November 2022, corn imports to EU border countries increased from a few thousand tons to several million tons compared to previous years. In particular, more than 6 thousand tons of Ukrainian corn was delivered to Poland in 2021 and more than 1.6 million tons in 2022.

The authors of the report emphasize that “chaos has begun” due to this growth in the markets of Eastern European countries. Cheap Ukrainian grain goes to local feed mills, thereby reducing demand for national products.

At the same time, it is unprofitable to transport the same Ukrainian corn to the countries of Western Europe by land. The situation is similar for wheat – wheat imports from Ukraine to some EU countries increased thousands of times. In addition, there is a significant flow of other Ukrainian agricultural products – sugar, poultry, flour, some dairy products, honey, apple juice.

Poland has an abundance of apples, a traditional export product for this country. The document states that due to the anti-Russian sanctions, Warsaw has lost a significant market share.

Bulgaria is experiencing a 25-fold increase in sunflower imports from Ukraine. This added to last year’s inflation and as a result, Bulgarian sunflower seed prices fell by 45% in 2022. Oil producers in Bulgaria are using their capacity to the fullest, but 77% of the local sunflower crop is still unprocessed in warehouses.

“We believe that the European Commission should provide tools to avoid the growing difficulties of EU manufacturers,” say representatives of Eastern European countries.

They offer a set of measures to improve the situation. Between them:

– Compensation to farmers adversely affected by the sharp influx of Ukrainian agricultural products.

– Closing the so-called “solidarity paths” so that excess products from Ukraine do not settle on European markets, but follow further in transit.

– Establishment of warehouses for surplus agricultural products and new transport corridors, including railways.

At the same time, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia expressed their readiness to continue helping Ukraine with both financial instruments and economic choices. However, the authors of the report stress that such aid should not be provided at the expense of EU member states.

The problem of the surplus of agricultural products from Ukraine came to the fore in the discussions at the European Commission in January. As a solution, it was proposed to create a special fund of 450 million Euros, through which funds would be sent to affected farmers. However, EU members differed in their views: Latvia, Hungary and the Czech Republic called for the fund to start working as soon as possible. However, the Netherlands, France and Denmark rejected the offer.