Ministry of Agriculture: Hungary still does not allow Ukrainian agricultural products to enter Hungary

The interests of Hungarian farmers come first, which is why our country will maintain the import ban on Ukrainian agricultural products even after the expiry of the free trade agreement between Brussels and Kiev – Minister of Agriculture István Nagy announced on his social media page, according to the Ministry of Agriculture (AM).

Istvan Nagy, Minister of Agriculture

The Minister reminded that after the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian war, Brussels decided to allow Ukrainian agricultural products to enter the territory of the European Union without restrictions and without duties. Thanks to the measure, Ukrainian grain and other agricultural products of dubious quality flowed into the territory of the EU in large quantities without control, thus making the livelihood and future of Hungarian farmers impossible. In this situation, in order to protect the interests of Hungarian producers, Hungary has introduced an import ban on these products – the minister added, according to the statement.

István Nagy explained that the unlimited and unilateral EU authorization of Ukrainian imports expired on June 5.

After that, the pre-war trade agreement between Ukraine and the European Union will temporarily come into force. According to this, Ukraine can import agricultural products into the EU duty-free according to certain quotas, and after these are exhausted, it will have to pay customs duties. Despite the reduction in the import volume, there is still no guarantee that imports arriving in the EU will not get stuck in the border member states, causing huge market disruptions again, the minister pointed out. He also considers it a serious problem that the regulation still does not provide a solution for one of the most sensitive products from a Hungarian perspective, corn, given that the customs duty is zero. In addition, even reduced quotas would give Ukrainian producers an excessive competitive advantage to the detriment of Hungarian farmers, primarily in the case of meat and eggs. In this situation, Hungary will continue to maintain the import ban introduced at national level two years ago to protect the interests of Hungarian farmers. It is time for Brussels to finally stand on the side of the European people instead of supporting Ukraine immoderately and uncritically, the Minister emphasized. The Minister stated that our country continues to stand by the principle that food arriving in the European Union must comply with the same rules and traceability criteria as products produced in the EU. Ukraine must not endanger the EU’s agricultural markets, for which Brussels must find a long-term and reassuring solution. Until this happens, Hungary will maintain the restrictive measures, István Nagy added.

MTI