2023-10-14 14:31:00
The European Commissioner for Agriculture, Janusz Wojciechowski (Poland), appreciated that Romania and the other EU states that have a border with Ukraine will no longer have problems with the speculative trade in Ukrainian grains, if the transit of these goods will be well organized through the Colors of Solidarity, Romanian ports having the most important role at the moment.
grain transportPhoto: Dreamstime
In a recent interview given to journalist Lucian Bălănuță from Radio Romania Iasithe official from Brussels explained why Ukrainian grain imports caused problems for grain producers in EU states neighboring this country in 2022.
“Because before the war, in 2021, then and earlier, Ukraine, which is a big grain producer, grain exporter, exported 90 percent of their products through the Black Sea, Ukrainian ports, mostly to non-EU countries, a part to Europe, mainly to Spain, Italy, Holland, were the main export direction. At that time, there was also the possibility to import grain into the European Union, in countries such as Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Slovakia, Poland, the import of corn, the import of rapeseed, were free of customs duties. It was possible to import, but it was not profitable for Ukraine. Everything changed when Russia attacked Ukraine. Ukraine had a huge reserve of grain from the harvest recorded in 2021. The price in Ukraine was very low. And that was the reason why we observed speculative trade near the border, legal but speculative” – said the European Commissioner.
He estimated, however, that European grain producers will no longer face the problem of falling prices as a result of cheap imports from Ukraine.
“You know, I think that, first of all, the pressure of imports from Ukraine, of Ukrainian exports to the European Union, will no longer be as strong as it was in the past, because in 2022 it was an absolutely unusual situation, because there was a huge grain reserve in Ukraine, good price on the world market, a very good price, because there was a kind of panic in the market following the Russian aggression. And, as I said before, speculative trading, but now there are not so many price differences. And if we structure a well-organized transit through the Colors of Solidarity, there should be no problem with this speculative trade. In my opinion, it will not be a problem in the future. But, as I said, there are 4.7 million tons of grain. This can be exported through Solidarity Colors. Romania is once once more, I can repeat, Romania is the most important country, as a country of solidarity corridors, as a country of transit. And I fully support the entire initiative to support Romania for investments, to improve the Colors of Solidarity”, explained the official from Brussels, quoted by Radio Romania Iași.
The European Commissioner for Agriculture showed that the port infrastructure in “Romania is under very strong pressure” at the moment, and the European Union will grant aid to our country.
“Romania cannot support more transit than now, but we have to find a solution to stimulate Ukraine to use other ports, not only Romania, but also other ports, as I said, the Baltic Sea ports, but this requires additional costs and the question is who should pay these additional costs” – Janusz Wojciechowski also said.
We remind you that on Friday, October 13, 2023, the European Commission approved a 24 million euro scheme for Romania to support private port operators in the context of Russia’s war once morest Ukraine. The measure, financed partly from the European cohesion funds and partly from the Romanian state budget, will support private port operators to improve the functioning of the Ukraine-EU solidarity corridors.
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