The EU will pay 100 million euros to the states that banned the import of grain from Ukraine

The European Commission has approved a support package of 100 million euros for farmers in five countries that have banned the import of grain from Ukraine.

The support package will be given to farmers in Poland, Bulgaria, Romania, Slovakia and Hungary, who suffered from the influx of grain from Ukraine, according to the website of the European Commission.

The EU distributed aid among countries as follows:

• Poland will receive 39.33 million euros;

• Romania — 29.73 million euros;

• Hungary — 15.93 million euros;

• Bulgaria — 9.77 million euros;

• Slovakia — 5.24 million euros.

The European Commission also agreed to pay 330 million euros to farmers from Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Estonia, Ireland, Greece, Spain, France, Croatia, Italy, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Austria, Portugal, Slovenia, Finland and Sweden.

National governments will distribute aid directly to farmers to compensate them for economic losses due to market disruptions, the effects of high input prices, and rapidly falling farm prices. In some cases, farmers will be compensated for damage caused by recent climate events, most notably in the Iberian Peninsula and Italy.

Payments for both support packages must be made by December 31.

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Farmers in five EU member states are facing problems related to logistical “bottlenecks” due to a sharp increase in the import of certain agricultural products from Ukraine.

Exceptional and temporary precautionary measures regarding the import of a limited number of goods from Ukraine entered into force on May 2, and they are planned to be canceled by September 15. The joint coordination platform is also working to improve the flow of trade between the EU and Ukraine through the “Solidarity Paths”, the European Commission noted.

We will remind you that in May, the European Commission banned the import of Ukrainian wheat, corn, rapeseed and sunflower to Poland, Bulgaria, Romania, Slovakia and Hungary. Poland expects that the ban on the import of Ukrainian agricultural products will be extended after September 15, and that new items will be added to the list of banned Ukrainian products.

In particular, Warsaw opposes imports, because technical grain was imported into Poland, which was later sold as consumer goods. Polish farmers also suffered from the large flow of Ukrainian grain.

USM previously reported that Romania  is considering giving local farmers priority acces to the port of Constanta during the harvest season, which could limit Ukrainian grain exports. The harvest season will begin around July, when Russia is expected to be able to withdraw from the Grains Agreement, and will continue until October.