Exports of grain from Ukraine to the EU have “returned to the level of 2022”, according to the country’s agriculture minister Mykola Solsky.
Solsky was speaking at a meeting of EU agriculture ministers yesterday (Wednesday, March 27), in which ministers discussed the impact that Ukrainian exports, particularly of grain, are having on the EU market.
Farm organisations and some member states in the EU – particularly Poland – have continuously expressed concern over the amount of grain entering the EU from Ukraine, claiming it is distorting the market.
After the Ukraine-Russia war started, the EU suspended import duties and quotas on some agricultural goods in order to facilitate the export of these products amid the war. These suspensions are called autonomous trade measures (ATMs).
Last week, the Council of the EU and the European Parliament agreed to extend these ATMs, but in doing so decided to “beef up” protections for EU products that might be put at a competitive disadvantage, on foot of the concerns raised by farmers in general, and in Poland particularly.
Yesterday, the Ukrainian agriculture ministers railed against the concerns that have been raised, claiming that his country’s agricultural sector “has become the object of negative myths that have no economic basis”.
“If you analyze the figures as of today, it turns out that we are discussing problems the scale of which is actually much smaller,” Solsky said.
“What is most painful for us is that the discussion of these myths overshadows the most important goal [which is] the ability of Ukraine to withstand and win the war with Russia.”
He also said that the Ukrainian grain exports to the EU have returned to 2022 levels.
The minister drew attention to the proportion of Ukrainian exports that actually move by land.
“Since the beginning of the year, out of 17 million tonnes of agricultural exports, about 12 million tonnes went through the ports of Odesa (on the Black Sea coast); almost three million tonnes were sent via the [River] Danube; and only two million tonnes were sent by land transport, mostly by rail, through neighboring EU countries,” Solsky said.
“We transit through Poland in a month as much as we export through Ukrainian seaports in one day. Now the cost of exports from Ukraine by sea is much more competitive than by land.”
He claimed that Ukrainian agricultural exports do not have a negative impact on EU markets and, in some cases, actually stabilises them.
“The price of sugar in the EU is still significantly higher than it was before the full-scale invasion. If Ukrainian sugar is removed from the market, the price in the EU will increase even more,” Solsky said.
According to the minister, Ukraine seeks free trade with the EU on a competitive market basis.
“Any restrictions only weaken Ukraine economically and directly distance the main goal [which is] our joint victory over Russia in this war,” he added.