Romania Wants To Ban Wheat But Not Sugar Imports From Ukraine

1. Romania Wants To Ban Wheat But Not Sugar Imports From Ukraine Romania Wants To Ban Wheat But Not Sugar Imports From Ukraine The conflict between one of the biggest grain producers and exporters of the world, Russia and Ukraine that started in 2022 changed the face of global agro-trade. Prior to the war, Ukraine used to ship agro-commodities through ports in the Black Sea region. However, Russian invasion of Ukraine led to blockage of these ports. The ports re-opened after the United Nations (UN) brokered a deal between Russia and Ukraine along with Turkey for the safe passage of grains. Even so, the port of Mykolaiv, one of the most important port for Ukraine remained closed. Owing to these, Ukraine was forced to ship grains through the land route and since the land route via Belarus was effectively shut, Ukraine began shipping as much grains as possible through Eastern Europe. To facilitate the passage of grains, the European Union (EU) suspended the import tariffs for Ukraine for 12 months starting June 2022 and with that Ukraine’s agro-export to the European Union (EU) saw a significant rise. Data highlight that there has been steep rise in Ukraine’s exports to Romania and Poland followed by Hungary and Bulgaria. What started as an initiative to tackle food crisis started acting as a bane for the farmers of eastern Europe. While rise in inflow of grains and oilseeds from Ukraine resulted in increased competition in local markets on one hand, on the other logistics and transportation became expensive which hindered the members of the European Union from exploring the global markets.

2. Owing to this, the European Commission on 2nd of May announced restrictions on the import of Ukrainian wheat, maize, rapeseed and sunflower seed in Poland, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia and Bulgaria and the restrictions are set to continue till June 5. With the expiry date inching closer, Romania has formally requested the European Commission to prolong the ban on duty-free import of grains from Ukraine. Official’s Statements Official’s Statements Agriculture minister of Romania, Mr. Petre Daea informed the public that Romania wants the ban on import of grains from Ukraine to continue till the end of the year. This is the third formal request received by the European Commission after Hungary and Poland raised similar requests. European Union’s Agriculture Commissioner, Mr. Janusz Wojciechowski also echoed similar opinions. While speaking to the public, he said that although there is resistance from some of the member states and Ukraine, restrictions need to continue till the end of October 2023. Romania Wants Sugar Imports To Continue Romania Wants Sugar Imports To Continue In separate news it came to surface that Romanian sugar producers are not very happy of the present situation. Since, Romania produces a little over half of the sugar it domestically consumes, it wants the sugar imports from Ukraine to continue. The Bottom Line The Bottom Line The war between Ukraine and Russia has changed the face of agro trade and from shipping agro- commodities through the Black Sea ports, Ukraine has shifted to land routes. However, the passage of grains from Eastern Europe raised troubles for a number of member nations and after Hungary and Poland raised formal request for the extension of restrictions which is set to expire on June 5, Romania has also joined in. Romania has requested the European Commissioner to prolong the ban on duty-free import of grains from Ukraine. However, it is open to duty free sugar imports from Ukraine going forward. If you are a Sugar Exporter looking to export bulk sugar or are a sugar importer looking to import bulk sugar, then Tradologie.com is the platform for you. Tradologie has over 600,000 verified buyers and 70,000+ verified suppliers in its network and through the platform you can connect and conduct bulk trade of food and agro-commodities with ease. To register as a seller, click here. To register as a buyer, click here. To stay updated with the recent happenings of the agro-trade industry, do follow Tradologie across all social media channels.