Slovakia to suspend grain imports from Ukraine - The Guardian

According to The Guardian, Slovakia will suspend imports of grain and other selected products from Ukraine, Ukrinform reports.

"Slovakia will temporarily halt imports of grains and other selected products from Ukraine, a government spokesperson said on Monday," the report said.

Reuters reports that this week representatives of European Union member states in Brussels will discuss the decision of Poland and Hungary to ban imports of grain and other food products from Ukraine, said a senior EU official on Monday. The official added that Slovakia and Romania raised this issue at the last summit of EU leaders.

"We expect Poland and Hungary to offer some explanation and there will also be reaction by the European Commision. There is an issue and we expect the Commission to come up with a proposal on that... We'll see what we can do in the coming weeks and months," the official said on condition of anonymity.

On Monday, Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine Mykola Solskyi stated that Kyiv wants to resume the transit of food and grain through Poland as a first step during talks in Warsaw.

As previously reported by Ukrinform, Hungary followed Poland in temporarily banning imports of grain and oilseeds from Ukraine.

Over the past few months, Polish farmers have been holding massive protests against the transportation of Ukrainian agricultural products through Poland to third countries. They emphasized that a significant portion of Ukrainian grain is not transported in transit but settles in Poland, thereby reducing the purchase prices in Poland for grain from Polish farmers. Under pressure from farmers, the Polish government appealed to the European Commission to abolish the zero duty on Ukrainian agricultural products. However, the European Commission did not fulfill the main demand of Polish farmers to impose duties on Ukrainian agricultural goods and extended the agreement on duty-free imports from Ukraine for another year, until June 5, 2024.

On April 5, Poland's previous Minister of Agriculture Henryk Kowalczyk resigned amid the crisis with Ukrainian grain. He was replaced by Robert Telus, who on the same day convened an interagency crisis headquarters to address the problem of the influx of Ukrainian grain into the Polish market.

During his official visit to Poland on April 5, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky discussed this issue with Prime Minister of Poland Mateusz Morawiecki. Afterward, during a media briefing, he said that the problem would be resolved soon.

During a meeting on April 7 at the border with his Polish counterpart Telus, Ukraine's Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food Solskyi said that Ukraine would suspend exports of wheat, corn, rapeseed, and sunflower to Poland until the new season.

The European Commission considers the unilateral trade decisions of Poland and Hungary, which banned imports of Ukrainian grain and other agricultural products, unacceptable.