Logistical bottlenecks mean much of the produce destined for Africa and the Middle East has piled up in eastern Europe. The resulting glut of maize, wheat and sunflower seeds has pushed down local prices
On April 28th the European Commission reached a tentative deal to allow Ukrainian grain to resume transiting through Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia.Russian invasion in February 2022, Ukraine has depended on the generosity of its neighbours. More than a year later, the country is realising that such generosity has its limits.
The trade spat stems from a well-intentioned policy implemented in the early months of the war. After Russia blockaded Ukraine’s Black Sea ports following its invasion last year, the EU lifted tariffs on the country’s agricultural exports and created trade routes for the transport of such goods through Bulgaria, Poland and Romania. But these “solidarity lanes” have not worked as planned.
The grain glut is growing bigger by the day. Data from the United Nations show that the five eastern European countries in question—Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia—together imported 4m tonnes of maize and 1.3m tonnes of wheat from Ukraine in 2022, up from just 23,000 tonnes and 3,000 tonnes respectively in 2021. In percentage terms those increases are 17,000% and 40,000%. Imports of sunflower seeds and rapeseed are up by 3,800% and 900% from a year ago.
The EU, which this month denounced the unilateral bans introduced by its five Eastern European members, is now working on its own. After several days of talks, agriculture ministers have reportedly agreed to provide farmers in the five countries with assistance worth €100m from the EU’s crisis reserve, a pot of money that supports the agriculture sector during hard times. This is on top of a €56m package agreed to in March.
The EU deal is unlikely to satisfy member states for long. With the harvest starting in the summer, and silos still full from last season’s unsold crops, farmers are worried. Upcoming elections in Slovakia and Poland mean that their concerns will not be ignored. Last week Poland’s government approved an aid scheme for farmers worth 10bn zlotys , a sum many times larger than the package promised by the EU.
Danmark Seneste Nyt, Danmark Overskrifter
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