EC proposes extending ban on Ukrainian imports until at least October

European Commissioner for Agriculture Janusz Wojciechowski is proposing to extend a temporary import ban on key agricultural products from Ukraine into five member states until the end of October "at the very minimum," after the European Council last week approved an extension of the duty-free import regime for Ukrainian products for another year.

Speaking at a press conference following an Agri and Fisheries Council meeting late Tuesday, the Commissioner stressed he could not make any binding declarations as member states were still in discussions.

However, he said that there was now more grain in reserves in the five neighboring member states than in Ukraine itself, which was why he was calling for restrictions to be extended until after the harvest, at least until October and ideally until the end of the year.

Several of the member states are facing general elections in the coming months and the issue of Ukrainian imports has become a political one.

In addition, not all member states support the ban, and earlier this month, several member states wrote to the Commission stressing the importance of common trade policies for the whole bloc.

The Commissioner said other European member states had questioned the criteria behind the decision, why the ban applied to only these five member states, and the consequences for the common food market.

“Liberalization of trade was the European Union support for Ukraine, but the cost of the support was paid mainly by the farmers in these five member states,” he said.

As a result of the increase in overland exports from Ukraine following the Russian invasion last February, imports to EU neighbors had increased by about €5 billion compared with the previous year, he said.

“You can imagine that with €5 billion more input, it was a shock for the market in these five member states, that we why we propose special measures for these member states,” he said.

According to the Commission, Ukrainian exports via the so-called Solidarity Lanes are mainly going to Romania, which has handled roughly 7 million mt of Ukrainian grain exported by transit.

Poland has taken 700,000 mt, Hungary 300,000 mt, Slovakia 200,000 mt, and Bulgaria less than 100,000 mt.

In response to the concerns raised by farmers regarding the adverse impact of imports on local markets, and unilateral bans attempted by member states, the European Commission introduced a temporary ban on imports of Ukrainian corn, wheat, rapeseed and sunseed into Poland, Bulgaria, Slovakia, Hungary, and Romania in early May, a ban which was set to end on June 5.

The European Commission came to this agreement provided that the five EU states did not prevent transit to other countries.

When he announced the ban on May 3, the Commissioner indicated that it might be extended if the European Parliament and Council approved extending the duty-free import scheme for an additional year.

At the same time, the Commission proposed freeing up €100 million from Common Agricultural Policy crisis funds to assist farmers in the five member states.

The Ukraine Agricultural Ministry meanwhile Wednesday criticized the proposed extension of the ban as showing a lack of solidarity with Ukraine and playing into Russian President Vladimir Putin's hands. 

"Continuation of restrictions means putting additional weapons in Putin's hands against unity in Europe. Current restrictions must be canceled," the ministry said in a tweet. 

While transit is technically still possible through countries bordering on Ukraine, traders still face challenges as new terms and stricter conditions subject to changes have caused queues at the border, making it increasingly difficult to plan logistics.  

“This is something that needs to be discussed among the Commissioners because we need to take very seriously what was expressed today by the Ukrainian side," Commissioner Wojciechowski said.