Hungary wants Ukrainian grain ban until end-2023, minister says

Hungary and other east European countries want to maintain an import ban on Ukrainian grain put in place last week until the end of 2023, Farm Minister Istvan Nagy said on Facebook on Tuesday. "We would like the (European) Commission to accept our measures as we aim to uphold them until the end of the year, to allow our farmers to harvest and store their crop," said Nagy, who is attending a meeting with European Union counterparts in Luxembourg.

Hungary and other east European countries want to maintain an import ban on Ukrainian grain put in place last week until the end of 2023, Farm Minister Istvan Nagy said on Facebook on Tuesday.

"We would like the (European) Commission to accept our measures as we aim to uphold them until the end of the year, to allow our farmers to harvest and store their crop," said Nagy, who is attending a meeting with European Union counterparts in Luxembourg. Hungary last week banned imports of Ukrainian grain and agricultural products after Poland took the same measure to counter an influx of cheaper products that has put domestic pressure on the government to shield local farmers.

Slovakia and Bulgaria also followed suit. The countries, with others in central and eastern Europe, have said EU measures are needed to tackle the problem. Hungary has called for "progressive" aid from the EU to help move Ukraine's grain through central European countries.

The countries became transit routes for Ukrainian grain that could not be exported through the country's Black Sea ports after Russia's invasion. But bottlenecks trapped millions of tonnes of grains in countries like Hungary and Poland that border Ukraine.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)