EC extends grain import restrictions

The European Commission (EC) has extended restrictions on imports of Ukrainian grain into five member states – Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia – until 15 September, World Grain wrote on 6 June.

All five countries had seen a significant increase in grain imports from Ukraine since the Black Sea Grain Initiative (BSGI) was agreed between Kiev and Moscow in July 2022 to allow for commercial food and fertiliser exports from three key Ukrainian Black Sea ports – Odessa, Chornomorsk and Pivdennyi.

The restrictions, which were due to expire 5 June, applied to four agricultural products – maize, rapeseed, sunflowerseed and wheat –originating in Ukraine, World Grain wrote.

When introducing the ban on 2 May, the EC said the surge in traffic at the borders between Ukraine and the EU had had an impact on logistics costs and created bottlenecks, resulting in saturated storage capacities and logistical chains. This had hampered the economic viability of producers in those countries.

The EC said the import restrictions were part of an overall support package that it had put forward and was being complemented with fi- nancial support for farmers in the five member states, the report said.

The measures are also facilitating the transit of Ukrainian grain exports via ‘solidarity lanes’ to other member states and third countries, according to the report. Exports via the solidarity lanes were mainly going to Romania, which had handled around 7M tonnes of Ukrainian grain, the EC said. Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and Bulgaria had taken 700,000 tonnes, 300,000 tonnes, 200,000 tonnes and less than 100,000 tonnes, respectively.

Ukraine’s government had condemned the restrictions as “categorically unacceptable”, World Grain wrote.

Against this backdrop, Ukraine’s Ministry of Renovation and Infrastructure was quoted as saying in a 2 June Reuters report that Russia was again blocking the BSGI by halting the registration of ships to all Ukrainian ports.

A UN spokesman said Russia had informed officials overseeing the initiative that Moscow would limit registrations to the port of Pivdennyi, in Ukraine’s Odessa province, until all parties agreed to unblock the transit of Russian ammonia, the report said.