[ad_1]
Bulgaria will likely not extend restrictions, Ukraine grateful
17 September 2023
Ukraine said on Thursday that any move by eastern European states to give restrictions on Ukrainian food exports which are because of expire on Sept. 15 could be illegal and harm common economic interests, reported Reuters.Restrictions imposed because of the European Union in May allowed Poland, Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia to ban domestic sales of Ukrainian wheat, maize, rapeseed and sunflower seeds, while permitting transit of these cargoes for export elsewhere.
Farmers during these eastern countries in europe have complained of the cereal glut sending domestic prices crashing and blamed it on cheap Ukrainian imports.
“we are believing that any decision … that may further restrict Ukrainian agricultural exports can not only be unjustified and unlawful,” foreign ministry spokesperson Oleg Nikolenko wrote on Facebook, but in addition harm “the most popular economic interests” of Ukraine, EU Member States in addition to European Union in general.
Before Russia’s war in Ukraine, eastern countries in europe are not among the list of main importers of Ukrainian grain, but dynamics shifted after Russia enforced a de facto blockade of Ukraine’s main export route through the Black Sea.
Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and Romania will likely extend the restrictions while Bulgaria on Thursday voted to scrap the curbs.
Gratitude to Bulgaria
Earlier on Thursday, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he had been grateful to Bulgaria for not extending restrictions on Ukrainian agricultural exports.
“Bulgaria sets a good example of true solidarity,” he said in the X social media marketing platform.
Poland, which holds a parliamentary election on Oct. 15 and says cheaper Ukrainian grain makes domestic production unprofitable, has said it does not lift its ban even in the event the EU will not extend the arrangement this week.
Slovakia’s government in addition has said it’s going to uphold the ban and
Hungary looks set to accomplish the exact same.Kyiv has
said it may seek international arbitration on the restrictions.Ukraine will probably harvest around 85 million metric a great deal of grain and oilseeds in 2023, at the least 50 million a great deal of which may potentially be exported.
Regardless of every national restrictions, Ukrainian grain transit to Baltic and Mediterranean ports would be unaffected.
[ad_2]