Slovakia joins Poland and Hungary in halting Ukraine grain imports

By Jon Henley

Slovakia has joined Poland and Hungary by unilaterally halting imports of grain and other food products from Ukraine to protect its farmers in decisions criticised by Kyiv and the European Commission as unacceptable.

The EU would expect the central European states ″to come up with some explanation″, a senior official said, after Poland and Hungary announced their bans over the weekend and Slovakia followed suit on Monday. Bulgaria has also said it is considering a ban.

The official said low global prices and demand meant large quantities of Ukrainian grain in particular were staying in the bloc rather than being sold on, adding: ″There is an issue … we’ll see what we can do in the coming weeks and months.″

After Russia-Ukraine war broke out last year, some Black Sea ports were blocked and Ukrainian grain – which is significantly cheaper than that produced in the EU – ended up staying in central Europe mainly because of logistical bottlenecks.

The resulting glut and price crash have hit local farmers hard and pose a pressing political problem, in particular for Poland’s governing nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) party, which has otherwise been one of Ukraine’s most trenchant supporters since the war began but relies on support from rural voters and faces a tight election this year.

Ukrainian grain should at least be allowed to transit through Poland, Ukraine’s agriculture minister, Mykola Solsky, said on Monday as urgent talks to resolve the dispute between the two countries began in Warsaw. ″The first step … should be the opening of transit, because it is quite important and it is the thing that should be done unconditionally, and after that we will talk about other things,″ he said.

Solsky said Ukrainian agricultural products shipped to and through Poland represented about 10% of the country’s total food exports – a vital sector of its war-ravaged economy – with Hungary accounting for a further 6%.

Poland announced after an emergency cabinet meeting on Saturday afternoon that it was banning many agricultural imports from Ukraine, including those ultimately destined for other countries, until at least early July. ″We will never leave farmers without help,″ Poland’s prime minister , Mateusz Morawiecki, tweeted. The economic development minister, Waldemar Buda, confirmed on Sunday the ban was ″full, including on transit through Poland″.

The country’s agriculture minister, Robert Telus, said the ban was necessary to ″open the eyes of the EU to the fact that further decisions are needed that will allow products from Ukraine to go deep into Europe, and not stay in Poland″.

Hungary’s agriculture minister, István Nagy, said later on Saturday that Budapest’s ban on imports from Ukraine of grain and oilseeds, as well as other farm products including fruits, vegetables, dairy, beef, pork and eggs, would last until 30 June. Nagy said Hungary and Poland – which are embroiled in long-running conflicts with Brussels over judicial independence, press freedom and LGBTQ+ rights, and have had EU funds withheld – were acting ″in the absence of meaningful EU measures″.

The European Commission’s spokesperson for trade and agriculture said trade policy was an EU-exclusive competence and unilateral actions ″are not acceptable. In such challenging times, it is crucial to coordinate and align all decisions within the EU.″

The Ukrainian government said it had ″always been sympathetic to the situation in the Polish agricultural sector and responded promptly to various challenges″, but added: ″Unilateral drastic actions will not accelerate positive resolution of the situation.″

Solsky said it was ″the Ukrainian farmer who is in the most difficult situation. We ask the Polish side to take this into account.″

The Commission proposed emergency funding to farmers in central European member states last month to compensate for the excess of Ukrainian grain, but several have complained it is not enough and farmers have protested volubly.

An EU official said on Monday: ″The European Commission has put money on the table but we see it is not matching the expectations of certain member states.″