Poland and four other EU member states asked Brussels on Wednesday to extend trade curbs on Ukrainian grain amid concerns that Russia’s blockage of Black Sea shipments could put further pressure on their domestic markets.
Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, Bulgaria and Romania have restricted imports of Ukrainian grain since last spring in response to protests by their farmers about a grain glut that sent cereal prices crashing and which they blamed on Ukrainian imports.
In May, Brussels persuaded them to drop unilateral measures, which violated EU trade law, by agreeing that Ukrainian shipments would only transit through the five countries on route to other destinations. The EU also handed out €100mn to the affected countries.