BRUSSELS: The European Union agriculture commissioner has said the EU can help Kyiv export the bulk of its grain via overland ways and could subsidize the cost of transport after Moscow tore up a Black Sea deal, Western media reported on Tuesday.
EU Considers Subsidies for Transport of Ukraine Grain
Fears over getting Ukraine’s extremely needed supplies to consumers around the world have spiked since Moscow last week withdrew from the UN-brokered deal to allow exports by sea.
The European Union established so-called “solidarity lanes” last year for Ukrainian produce—mainly through Poland and Romania—to help boost alternative paths to international markets after Russia’s invasion.
EU Commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski said after dialogue with EU ministers for agriculture in Brussels that the alliance was “ready to export by the unity lanes almost everything.”
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The Commissioner added he would put now forward a suggestion to use EU funds to “support the transport charges” of moving the Ukrainian produce through road and rail through the bloc to keep products’ prices down.
Moscow’s decision to pull out of the Black Sea agreement has fueled worries that food prices in the world from Latin America to Africa could increase.
The EU dropped duties on Ukrainian exports in the wake of Moscow’s invasion in a bid to help Ukraine earn revenues.
But European nations along the border of the global agricultural powerhouse started barring imports after their local farmers protested that a surplus of Ukrainian grain was pushing down foods’ prices.
