At its online meeting on Monday, the government approved a ban on importing Ukrainian grain and some agricultural commodities from Ukraine but not their transit through Slovakia. Interim Agriculture Minister Samuel Vlcan told at the briefing following the government meeting on Monday. According to the government resolution, the ban is to be effective as of April 19. "Today, I submitted to the government and the government approved a proposal to ban the importing of selected agricultural products and foodstuffs from Ukraine and originating from Ukraine. At the same time, I submitted to the government and the government approved the introduction of a special transit regime for shipments of agricultural products and foodstuffs originating from Ukraine," added the agriculture minister.
According to him, this is a measure to protect the Slovak agriculture-food sector and especially the health of consumers. Bratislava joins Warsaw and Budapest, which banned Ukrainian grain imports over the weekend. The European Commission has described these unilateral trade measures as unacceptable. Slovak farmers and food producers are aware that restrictions on imports of certain commodities must be subject to mutual coordination with Brussels. However, they find themselves in such an extremely grave situation that, without a ban, it would have a negative impact on the stability of the markets. The Slovak Agriculture and Food Chamber (SPKK) has stated on Monday.
The chamber at the same time called on growers to try to sell last year's grain as soon as possible in order to free up stores for the new crop, which will be harvested in just a few months' time. "With today's resolution, the government isn't introducing a ban on transit through solidarity corridors to ports so that production from Ukraine intended for third markets outside the EU can continue," added Vlcan. Following the discovery of contaminated wheat imported from Ukraine last week, state authorities banned the processing and marketing of Ukrainian grain not only in the food chain, but also in the feed chain. Border controls and related measures have also been stepped up.
Source: TASR
