WARSAW: Poland and Hungary have announced to ban on imports of grain and other food from Ukraine to protect the local agricultural sector.
The two countries made the announcement after a barrage of supply brought down prices across the region.
Ukraine regretted the Polish decision, stating that “resolving various issues by one-sided drastic actions would not accelerate a positive resolution of the situation.
After Russia’s attack blocked some Black Sea ports, Ukrainian grain, which was cheaper compared to that produced in the European Union, ended up landing in Central European states owing to logistical bottlenecks, hitting prices and sales for local farmers.
Earlier, in a letter to the European Commission, the prime ministers of five eastern European countries said that the scale of the increase in products like grains, eggs, oilseeds, poultry and sugar had been “unparalleled”, and said that tariffs on Ukrainian agricultural imports should potentially be considered.
The impact of the oversupply had created a political difficulty for Poland’s ruling Law and Justice Party (PiS) in an election year, with the economy soaked in stagflation.
PiS leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski that today, the government had decided on a regulation that prohibits the entry and import of grain into Poland, and also dozens of other kinds of food from Ukraine.
