EC reportedly ready to prolong selective embargo on Ukrainian grains

Poland's agriculture minister announced on June 5 that it had received a draft regulation from the European Commission (EC) allowing Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia to prolong the embargo on imports of cereals from Ukraine, enforced on May 2, until September 15, according to Agerpres quoting Reuters.

"We have received from the European Commission a draft of a new regulation banning the imports of four products into the five countries. The date set out in the draft is September 15," polish agriculture minister Robert Telus wrote in a Twitter post.

"This is just a draft, but I hope it will come into force starting tomorrow," he added.

On May 2, the European Union (EU) imposed restrictions until June 5 on imports of wheat, maize, rapeseed and sunflower seeds from Ukraine, with the aim of reducing the grain glut in the five countries that have complained that cheap cereals in Ukraine make local production unprofitable. During the period of selective embargo, the wheat, maize, rapeseed and sunflower seeds from Ukraine can be sold in any other EU country.

Previously, the EU liberalized all imports from Ukraine in order to help Kyiv counter the Russian invasion. Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia became transit routes for Ukrainian cereals that could no longer be exported by sea because Ukrainian ports were blocked because of the war.

Last week, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called for the unconditional removal of all export restrictions on Ukrainian agricultural products during talks with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

(Photo source: Denys Kovtun/Dreamstime.com)