Bulgaria plans to ban imports of sunflower seeds from Ukraine

Bulgaria is planning to impose a ban on imports of sunflower seeds from Ukraine in the near future amid farmers’ protests that have broken out across the country. This was announced by Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov after talks with a committee of protesting farmers, BNR reports.

He noted that imports of Ukrainian sunseed will continue after a certain quota is agreed with Kyiv.

“Regarding sunseed, we will soon discuss this with the Prime Minister of Ukraine, where I will explain that we have considered during today’s discussions that there will be a certain quota for Bulgaria, and this quota will be allowed for import to Bulgaria only after we determine how large it will be and what exactly it will mean. We will not allow imports of sunseed from Ukraine in the near future,” Denkov said.

The talks took place against the backdrop of a protest outside the Council of Ministers. However, the meeting did not end with a clear answer as to whether the farmers’ protests would be stopped.

Bulgarian Finance Minister Asen Vasiliev clarified that imports of sunseed from Ukraine will be allowed when there are clear volumes agreed between farmers and the processing industry.

Denkov said that negotiations are underway between the European Commission and Ukraine, together with the agriculture ministers of the member states, on whether other products can be included in the bans already in place.

The farmers said that they would decide to end the protests only if the protesters see and approve the commitments made by the authorities.

On September 18, farmers in Bulgaria began protests across the country over the parliament’s decision to unblock imports of agricultural products from Ukraine.

Tags: Bulgaria, sunseed, restrictions