Bulgaria insists on quota volumes for Ukrainian grain imports

The Bulgarian government is insisting on the introduction of tariffs and quotas on Ukrainian grain imports to the EU, citing the “significant” suffering of local farmers since the EU lifted trade restrictions on Ukrainian produce following the war in Ukraine.

Last week, Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia sent a joint letter to EU Trade Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis and EU Agriculture Commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski saying their farmers were “suffering significantly” since the EU lifted import quotas and duties on Ukrainian grain imports.

In response to Euractiv’s questions, the Bulgarian Agriculture Ministry admitted that there has been no analysis of how the introduction of tariff quotas and duties will affect Bulgarian production, such as oil, which uses Ukrainian products, nor does the country have a clear idea whether the introduction of duties will lead to an increase in inflation.

Bulgaria has met all the requirements, but the country’s inflation (4.7%) is still higher than in most eurozone countries.

Bulgaria also has a large production capacity for refined and unrefined sunflower oil and biodiesel, and Bulgarian producers in these sectors are among the largest in the EU. At the same time, Bulgaria does not produce enough sunflower seed for its capacity and is heavily dependent on imports from Ukraine.

Introducing tariffs on Ukrainian sunflower and rapeseed seeds would make Bulgarian production unsellable on world markets. Last year, some production facilities were shut down while the ban on importing Ukrainian grain was in effect.

“Regarding the Ukrainian production used as raw material, it should be noted that the difference in cost and supply with the production of Bulgarian producers is due to the mandatory compliance with several “green standards” in the EU, which is not required for producers outside the EU,” the Agriculture Ministry said in response to Euractiv.

The question of the quality of Ukrainian grain was also raised in the spring of last year when Bulgarian sanitary authorities announced that production was completely safe and that sunflower seeds from Ukraine had a higher average oil content than Bulgarian ones.

To satisfy Bulgarian grain, oil and livestock producers who rely on cheap imports, the government has proposed that the EU Commission set “quota volumes” of duty-free imports, and if these volumes are exceeded, the Agriculture Ministry insists that duties must be paid for Ukrainian production.

Quota volumes must be “in line with market logic and processing capacities, it should provide more clarity and security for both producers and processors”, according to the Bulgarian position.

At the same time, the Bulgarian Agriculture Ministry warns that the current situation may lead to a decrease in local production, which “in the long term may disrupt the country’s food security”.

“Increased exports from Ukraine are a serious cause for concern for producers, as they are unable to compete with the prices of Ukrainian goods, which are a consequence of the application of different production standards,” Bulgaria’s position adds.

In the letter, the countries talk about losing markets for farmers who cannot compete with Ukrainian exports.

“It is necessary for the Commission to put in place such measures that protect the markets of the Member States on the front line while at the same time allowing them to use their export potential. One possibility would be introducing tariff quotas for the most sensitive agricultural products in the framework of the negotiations to extend the ATM Regulation /Autonomous Tariff Measures,” the letter to Brussels, as quoted from the Bulgarian Ministry in response to Euractiv’s questions, writes.

“For products for which it is impossible to re-introduce tariff quotas, a different solution should be found to address the problem of increasing imports from Ukraine,” the letter adds.

(Krassen Nikolov | Euractiv.bg)