Hungary imposes temporary ban on Ukrainian agricultural products

Hungary’s government announced a ban on the import of grain, oilseeds, and several other products from Ukraine and later expanded the list of banned items, citing market pressures on Hungarian farmers. Budapest called for "progressive" aid from the EU to help move Ukrainian grain through central European countries where farmers are competing with cheaper imports.

Hungary's government banned the import of 25 Ukrainian products including grains, honey, meat, oil seeds, flour, and cooking oil until June 30, a government minister announced this week. This was an expansion of the initial ban announced last weekend, which included the imports grain and oilseeds. With this measure, Hungary joined the ranks of Poland, Slovakia, Romania and Bulgaria, which also introduced a temporary ban on Ukrainian agri-food imports, saying that the glut of Ukraine’s abundant and cheaper exports is damaging the interests of local farmers.
Hungary will also monitor shipments of these products coming from third countries upon entry in Hungary to make sure they are not coming from Ukraine, Minister Gergely Gulyás told a news conference in Budapest. Governments in Western Europe have sought to help Ukraine maintain its exports of grain and agricultural products since the war with Russia began, as these are vital for the war-torn nation’s economy. Nevertheless, countries in Eastern Europe had been hurt by the EU’s decision to lift duties on Ukrainian grain imports into the bloc. The move triggered a tide of rising anger from farmers in Poland, Hungary and Slovakia, who claimed that Ukrainina imports of agricultural products created unfair competition and trading conditions for local farmers.

“Ruined” market
Ukraine is one of the world’s largest exporters of wheat, corn and sunflower and Russia’s blockade on its ports last year led to global food price rises. Under a UN-brokered deal, grain exports were allowed to leave Ukraine via the Black Sea, which helped ease the crisis. The EU also created so-called “solidarity lanes” to assist Ukrainian exports to leave the country via land routes in Europe.
Ukrainian imports “ruined the Hungarian agricultural market,” Gulyás said. “We are glad to help Ukraine, but we must see clearly that solidarity cannot ruin Hungarian farmers, the Hungarian economy and especially Hungarian agriculture." Despite the bank, Hungary will allow the transit of Ukrainian products across the country, but that such shipments will be tracked electronically and with patrols.

Seeking EU help
Hungary is calling for "progressive" aid from the EU to help move Ukraine's grain through central European countries, Agriculture Minister István Nagy said after meeting his Ukrainian counterpart.
The European Commission said this week that it was would take “preventive measures” to address the concerns of farmers in countries neighboring Ukraine. Proposals by the European Commission include an initial support package of EUR56.3 million for the most affected farmers in the front-line countries with the possibility of a second package of EUR100 million. The measures would affect wheat, maize, sunflower seeds and rapeseed. Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia, whose ministers took part in talks with European Trade Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis this week, want the list to be longer, including products such as milk, poultry and honey. An EU official said the bloc's proposals would only allow grain to enter the five countries from Ukraine if they were set for export to other EU members or to the rest of the world. This measure would last until the end of June.