Hungary to strengthen control over Ukrainian grain imports

Hungary will introduce new measures to curb grain volumes coming from Ukraine, including tariffs and quantitative limits on imports of Ukrainian grain and oilseeds, Minister of Agriculture Istvan Nagy said on April 9.

Nagy said large quantities of cheap Ukrainian foodstuffs, including poultry, eggs, and honey, flooding the EU markets, hurt the Hungarian domestic market, and lower farmers’ sales prices below the level of production costs.

He said the Hungarian, Polish, Slovak and Romanian prime ministers, as well as the Bulgarian president, asked the European Commission to deal with increased grain imports from Ukraine.

Cheap Ukrainian grain has been flooding the EU market since the beginning of the invasion, helped by the European Union waiving customs duties and import quotas to keep Ukraine’s agricultural sector running.

Earlier this week, Poland reached an agreement with Ukraine to stop grain imports until at least July and only allow grain transit.

The Polish government previously called on the European Commission to reintroduce duties on Ukrainian grain, but the European Commission extended the duty-free regime with Ukraine for another year.

Tags: imports, tariffs, Hungary, measures, Ukraine, eggs, grain, honey, EU, markets, Poland, limits, oilseeds, Poultry, Production