Romania wants to ban wheat but not sugar imports from Ukraine

Besides at least Hungary and Poland, Romania formally requested the European Commission on May 30 to prolong the ban on the duty-free import of grains from Ukraine, which expires on June 5 – just before the harvest of the winter crops.

Romania wants the ban to be prolonged until the end of the year, agriculture minister Petre Daea confirmed, quoted by G4media.ro.

EU Agriculture Commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski said on May 30 it was necessary to extend "at least" until the end of October the restrictions imposed by five EU countries on the import of Ukrainian cereals, despite Kyiv's opposition and resistance from some member states, AFP reported, according to local Digi24.

On May 2, the European Union imposed restrictions on imports of wheat, maize, rapeseed and sunflower seeds from Ukraine, with the aim of reducing the excess supply of cereals in Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia. These countries have complained that cheap cereals in Ukraine make local production unprofitable.

Ukrainian agriculture minister Mykola Solsky denounced the restrictions in Brussels on May 30. "We believe that prolonging the restrictions is not the right way, we oppose it," he said, arguing that the decision would favour Moscow.

In separate news, Romanian sugar producers complain about the export restrictions set by Ukraine for the period June 5 - September 15, Economica.net reported. Romania produces just over half of the sugar it consumes.

According to the European Commission's data, Romania imported between October 2022 and April 2023 84,736 tons of sugar from Ukraine, i.e. 30% of the EU's total imports and 26.8 times more than in the same period of last year. This is because Romania has produced much less, and Ukraine is a cheap market for sugar. In addition, there is not much availability of sugar in EU countries because they keep their resources locally.

(Photo source: Musuc Alexandr/Dreamstime.com)