Romania to Develop Grain Import and Export Licensing with Ukraine

Ukraine and Romania will jointly develop a grain export control plan that will help to protect Romanian farmers. This activity will last for the next 30 days. This was announced by Romanian Agriculture Minister Florin Barbu. The Romanian minister’s statement came after the Ukrainian side had proposed to the European Commission as well as Romania, Poland, Bulgaria, Slovakia and Hungary an export control plan for wheat, corn, sunflower and rapeseed to protect local markets. On Tuesday Bucharest approved the introduction of export licenses for a range of agricultural products for export to five eastern EU countries. “The export licenses for Ukrainian companies will come into force in 30 days. During this time, Romania will also create a clear import licensing procedure for Romanian farmers and processors,” he said. Barbu also expressed confidence that this mechanism, proposed by the European Commission and “adopted by Ukraine and agreed by us in favor of farmers, will be fully functional”. According to him, Romania will issue import licenses only to domestic farmers and food processors who need to replenish stocks, and not to intermediaries. The official added that food safety checks will be carried out on all imports. Romania is among five eastern EU countries, along with Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia, that faced a surge of Ukrainian grain’s import after the start of Russia’s large-scale military aggression against Ukraine. As reported in these countries, this situation distorted local markets and sparked farmer protests, leading the EU to approve restrictions on Ukrainian grain imports, but allowing agriculture-products to transit to other countries until 15 September. Last week, Poland, Slovakia and Hungary announced that they would continue the embargo unilaterally. In turn, Ukraine filed a complaint against these three states with the World Trade Organization. The Ukrainian government proposed to the European Commission and neighboring countries an export control plan for four crop groups (wheat, corn, sunflower and rapeseed) to protect local markets in different countries.