Hungarian Minister of Agriculture Istvan Nagy said that his country, along with several other European regions, expects to extend the ban on the import of Ukrainian grain and oilseeds (wheat, corn, sunflower and rapeseed) until the end of this year: for now, these restrictions are in effect only until June 5.
“We are currently waiting for a proposal from the European Commission to maintain the current EU regime after June 5,” the head of the Agriculture Ministry said in a statement published on the department’s website.
According to Nadya, the situation on the agricultural markets of Central Europe will not be normalized in the coming weeks, since the reservoirs are still filled with Ukrainian raw materials. At the same time, the sale of grain and oilseeds at dumping prices has already caused serious damage to local farmers, the minister said.
In early May, five European countries (Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia) banned imports of Ukrainian grains and oilseeds, leaving only permission to transit these products. Earlier Moldova wanted to join these countries, but Agriculture Minister Volodymyr Bolya said that “this decision would give zero results”.
EU Agriculture Commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski earlier said that the EU was likely to agree to extend the regulation banning free trade in wheat, corn, rapeseed and sunflowers from Ukraine after 5 June.