Slovakia joins Poland and Hungary in halting Ukraine grain imports
Slovakia has joined Poland and Hungary by unilaterally halting imports of grain and other food products from Ukraine to protect its farmers in decisions Kyiv and the European Commission have criticised 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’s invasion of Ukraine 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
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