New measures to curb grain dumping in Ukraine

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The head of the ministry reminded that the Russian-Ukrainian war, the failed Brussels sanctions, the energy crisis and the increased input costs cause trying difficulties for Hungarian farmers. The situation is further complicated by the fact that grain and oilseed imports are arriving and staying here in unprecedented quantities in the member states bordering Ukraine, including in our country. In addition, Ukrainian agriculture, which enjoys full duty-free status, has begun to export large quantities of poultry, eggs and honey to the European market, which displaces Hungarian products from its traditional markets and lowers farmers’ sales prices below the level of production costs, he added. István Nagy pointed out that in order to remedy the situation, the Hungarian, Polish, Slovak and Romanian prime ministers and the Bulgarian president asked the president of the European Commission in a joint letter to immediately take measures to deal with the unsustainable situation caused by the increased grain imports from Ukraine. He emphasized that farmers need stability and predictability, to be able to continue their activities under the same conditions as their European counterparts. In this situation, Brussels should not make it impossible, but support and protect EU producers, the head of the ministry pointed out.

They would extend a liability

The minister initiates the introduction of the obligation of the Electronic Road Goods Traffic Control System (EKÁER) for the main grain and oilseed crops as well. With the notifications, on the one hand, we can get a more accurate picture of the amount of grain and oilseeds arriving by road, and on the other hand, those shipments that do not comply with the notification obligation become punishable. An undeclared shipment is considered to be of unverified origin, a default fine may be imposed on it, or it may even be seized as collateral. He explained that the European Commission said no to the general reinstatement of customs duties for Ukrainian agricultural products, so we are also initiating the re-introduction of customs duties and quantitative limits on a group of products, the imports of Ukrainian grain and oilseeds arriving on land, at least on a temporary basis. In addition to all this, our country continues to strengthen the control of imported products, paying special attention to transit shipments in order to ensure that the shipments designated for transit actually leave the country, the head of the ministry underlined. István Nagy stated that the Ministry of Agriculture is always on the side of Hungarian farmers and takes the necessary measures to deal with the market difficulties caused by Ukrainian grain dumping and the failed Brussels measures and to support Hungarian farmers.

AM