EU Strikes a Deal to End Import Ban of Ukrainian Grain by Five Bloc Countries

The European Commission announced it has reached an agreement with the five EU states that imposed a ban on imports of Ukrainian grain claiming the move was to stabilize their markets and protect prices for local farmers.

The agreement, in principle, preserves both Ukraine’s export capacity and the livelihoods of farmers in the rest of the EU bloc. In exchange for the unilateral end to import bans on Ukrainian grain by its neighboring countries, the EU will engage “exceptional safeguard measures” concerning the four Ukrainian commodities considered the most sensitive - wheat, corn, rapeseed, and sunflower seeds.

The deal also included a support package of EUR 100 million (US$110.25 million) for farmers in neighboring countries to Ukraine that became transit routes for Ukraine’s grain that it couldn’t export through its ports on the Black Sea. Bottlenecks then trapped millions of tons of grain in these bordering countries, which then found themselves having to compete with the cheap stockpiles.

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