Bulgaria will demand from the European Commission to stop imports of eggs from Ukraine

Bulgaria will demand the suspension of imports of eggs originating from Ukraine at the next meeting of the EU Agriculture and Fisheries Council on September 23 in Brussels.

This is stated in the message of the Ministry of Agriculture and Food of Bulgaria.

As stated by the Minister of Agriculture and Food Georgi Takhov during a meeting with farmers, Bulgaria has the opportunity to introduce protective measures in accordance with the agreement on duty-free regime for Ukraine.

Bulgarian farmers insist that the European Commission’s reintroduction of tariff quotas on Ukrainian eggs in July is not enough and demand a complete ban on imports of Ukrainian eggs, Poultry World reports.

In 2024, imports of eggs from Ukraine to Bulgaria increased by 400%, said Daniel Bozhankov, chairman of the Association of Industrial Poultry Breeders. According to him, the import duty does not work – it is only 5% of the wholesale price of eggs, so it was not possible to restrain the import flow. In fact, supplies even increased after the measure was introduced.

According to the expert, Ukrainian eggs are 20-30% cheaper than eggs from local farmers. He explained that Ukrainian producers are able to keep production costs relatively low because they do not have to comply with European poultry standards.

Bozhankov claims that cheap imports cause “millions in losses” to local farmers, so the association is demanding that the authorities call on the European Commission to activate the ban on Ukrainian eggs within 120 days. If their demands are not met, they are ready to organize mass protests.

It is noted that imports also prevent Bulgarian poultry farming from recovering from the large-scale outbreak of bird flu in 2023, which killed 1.5 million laying hens. This led to a significant drop in Bulgaria’s self-sufficiency in eggs.

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Tags: Ukraine, Bulgaria, EU, restrictions, eggs