Slovakia banned the processing and sale of grain from Ukraine

On April 13, the Ministry of Agriculture of Slovakia banned the processing of grain imported from Ukraine, as well as its sale on the domestic market.

The ban decision was made after a batch of Ukrainian wheat was allegedly found to contain a pesticide in Slovakia, “which is not allowed in the EU and has a negative impact on human health,” the press service of the Slovak Ministry of Agriculture reported.

“The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, together with subordinate organizations, will ensure the selection of samples of all grain and flour from Ukraine, which is already stored in Slovakia,” the department noted.

Slovakia will inform all EU member states and the Ukrainian ambassador Myroslav Kastran about the results of the analysis of the grain consignment from Ukraine.

Also, on April 14, the agriculture ministers of the Visegrad Four countries (Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary), as well as Romania and Bulgaria, will discuss this issue.

The Ministry of Agriculture added that they do not recommend importing Ukrainian grain and grain products. The department did not specify the period for which the restrictions were introduced.

For a long time after the beginning of the large-scale invasion of the Russian Federation, Ukraine could not export grain by sea and was forced to sell grain in large batches overland to the EU.

Since Ukrainian grain is cheaper than grain grown in the EU, the increase in its import affected European farmers – they began to protest.

After all, last week Poland announced a temporary suspension of grain from Ukraine to limit the impact on prices. At the same time, Poland did not limit the transit of Ukrainian grain.