The EU will offer Ukraine to agree to extend the ban on grain exports to five countries

Today, European Commissioner for Agriculture Janusz Wojciechowski will propose to extend the temporary ban on Ukrainian grain exports to five EU countries while increasing the transit capacity of the “solidarity corridors”. He said this yesterday during a thematic hearing at the European Parliament’s plenary session in Strasbourg.

“We have made significant efforts to ensure that Ukrainian grain can be exported to the places where it is most needed. At the same time, we are taking steps to support European farmers. The introduction of temporary safeguard measures allowed us to structure and stabilize the market in the border countries, while not imposing restrictions on the export of Ukrainian grain through the “solidarity corridors”. With good will, there are all conditions for successful transportation of the new harvest from Ukraine,” Wojciechowski said.

He noted that since the beginning of the Russian invasion and the blockade of the Black Sea ports, 44.4 million tons of grain have been transported through the “solidarity corridors” on the borders between the EU and Ukraine.

In the period up to May this year, before the introduction of temporary safeguard measures for Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and Romania, the volume of such exports averaged 2.9 million tons per month. After the ban on exports from May to July, 9.6 million tons of grain were transported via this route, an average of 3.2 million tons per month.

The European Commissioner emphasized that by developing the EU’s “solidarity corridors”, in particular, supporting transit through the Danube transport corridor, as well as using alternative routes through the ports of the Baltic and Adriatic Seas, transit capacity for Ukrainian grain could be increased to 4.7 million tons per month by the end of this year.

To make this possible, the European Commissioner proposes to compensate Ukrainian companies for the cost of grain transit to maintain its price competitiveness on the global market.

Wojciechowski noted that the measures taken to restrict the export of Ukrainian grain were effective, as they helped stabilize markets in five countries and increase exports through the “solidarity corridors”. Based on this, the European Commissioner said he strongly supports the extension of such temporary safeguard measures.

“We have to find a solution that will meet the interests of Ukraine as a candidate country at war, as well as protect EU citizens and European farmers. I am convinced that we have found such a solution,” the European Commission representative said.

As reported, the day before, the Polish government supported the initiative of the Minister of Agriculture Robert Telus to extend the ban on grain imports from Ukraine to Poland unilaterally after September 15, when the embargo agreed with the European Commission expires.

At the same time, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said that Ukraine would file a complaint with the World Trade Organization (WTO) if Poland does not abandon its intention to impose unilateral restrictions on Ukrainian agricultural exports after September 15.

As a reminder, on September 15, the European Commission is to lift its moratorium on imports of Ukrainian corn, wheat, rapeseed and sunflower seeds to Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia.

Tags: Ukraine, grain, EU, restrictions