EU Minister of Agriculture meeting on grain imports from Ukraine

The Hungarian minister held discussions with several EU agriculture ministers about the agricultural market situation in the European Union as part of the International Green Week in Berlin. The main reason for the consultation is that despite the partial reopening of Ukrainian ports in recent months, Ukraine’s grain and oilseed exports to Hungary and other EU member states neighboring Ukraine have increased significantly, causing serious market disturbances in these countries. The large international grain trading companies are now delivering Ukrainian produce to the traditional EU and non-EU export markets of Hungarian grain, which has substantially reduced the demand for the goods of domestic producers.

That is why market processes need to be reviewed

The significant amount of imports arriving from Ukraine to the EU by sea and land depresses producer prices despite the high input costs, and its long-term presence would cause serious problems in the grain and oilseed producing countries of Europe. In order to prevent these negative processes, the developed market conditions must be reviewed and appropriate EU measures must be taken – the Minister of Agriculture underlined at the meeting. Our goal is primarily to protect domestic and European farmers, to preserve the EU’s internal market balance, while also respecting the EU measures that help Ukrainian goods to reach the world market, the minister emphasized.

AM