Slovakia suspended agricultural imports from Ukraine this Monday, joining Hungary and Poland in announcing the same measure on Saturday to protect local markets.
This import ban is temporary and preventive as it was adopted despite European Commission criticism of the unilateral decisions of Warsaw and Budapest, Slovak government sources said.
Ukrainian products, the import of which is prohibited, are cereals, sugar, seeds, hops, flax, fruits and vegetables, fruits and products of their processing, wine, ethyl alcohol of agricultural origin, honey and beekeeping products.
The government of Bratislava justified this extraordinary measure by the fact that it is aimed at ensuring that Ukrainian goods do not distort prices on the domestic market.
After Poland and Hungary announced a temporary ban on Ukrainian grain imports, the Slovak Ministry of Agriculture convened this Monday an interdepartmental and expert meeting to discuss the issue.
Bratislava has already expressed concern about the destabilizing impact of a growing presence on the domestic market of Ukrainian products at prices significantly lower than what Slovak farmers can offer.
On the other hand, for sanitary reasons, last week Slovakia banned the sale and grinding of Ukrainian wheat for both human and animal consumption.
Slovakia recently ordered containers of cereals to be sealed in transit to prevent them from reaching the local market, a measure that is being tightened up.
On Friday, the Ministry of Agriculture announced that it was analyzing the possibility of offering the European Union (EU) a mechanism to facilitate the arrival of Ukrainian grain in third countries without compromising the supply of member countries of the community.
The idea is that the EU will buy Ukrainian grains in cooperation with the UN World Food Program – a proposal to be presented at the next meeting of the Council of Ministers of Agriculture and Fisheries of the European Union (Agrifish).
The governments of Bulgaria and Romania also said they were looking into measures to prevent what they consider unfair competition with Ukrainian products on their soil.
Author: Portuguese
Source: CM Jornal
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