By KYIV. May 8 (Interfax-Ukraine) – All indications are that the EU will agree to an extension of the regulation banning the free trade of wheat, corn, rapeseed and sunflower from Ukraine in five Eastern European countries, EU Commissioner for Agriculture Janusz Wojciechowski said on Monday on Radio Zet.
He recalled that from May 2 to June 5, the EU regulation prohibits the free import of Ukrainian grains and oilseeds to Poland, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania, but their transit through the territory of these countries is allowed.
At the same time, the ban applies only to the “most sensitive products” that were imported in excess. In the list of products that were offered by five countries for the ban, there are several more items that were imported in excess, but at the moment there are no disruptions due to them on the market, in particular Poland, the European Commissioner noted.
“For example, there was a problem with honey. We checked the data, it turned out that in 2022 less honey came to Poland than in 2021, before the war,” he said.
According to him, in the case of poultry meat, a safety clause may be applied. “The European Commission is analyzing the market and, depending on the results of this analysis, it may decide to introduce import quotas,” the European Commissioner said and recalled that before trade liberalization, the import quota for Ukraine was 90,000 tonnes of poultry meat. “Now, however, these imports from Ukraine have increased by 80% across the EU, which is a significant increase,” he stressed.
According to the commissioner, the grain crisis has been averted. He recalled that from April 2022 to the end of March 2023, some 4.1 million tonnes of grain were imported to Poland, of which 3.4 million tonnes remained in the country, and the rest was transited.
Wojciechowski noted that Polish farmers who now sell grain can take advantage of state assistance and subsidies. There is a demand for grain, but the problem of its low price remains.
The European Commissioner pointed out that the Polish economy greatly benefits from the liberalization of trade with Ukraine. “EUR 10 billion is the value of Polish exports to Ukraine in 2022, that is, a third of EU exports. Imports are EUR 6 billion, and EUR 4 billion is a surplus,” he calculated.
Wojciechowski noted that the actions he took as the EU Commissioner for Agriculture, that is, helping farmers in a crisis situation due to the war in Ukraine, amounted to EUR 1.6 billion. “I think I did more than was possible in these conditions,” he said and added that Poland had not had such assistance before.
Wojciechowski suggested that EU member states would agree to an extension after June 5, 2023, of a provision banning the free trade of four crops in Eastern European countries. “Everything points to it,” he concluded.
