Slovakia is the latest European country to place a ban on Ukrainian Agricultural imports. Poland and Hungary already announced similar bans over the weekend, according to a VOA news report.
Slovakia will exempt grain from the ban and has said that the ban is temporary, until the European Union takes action. What is going on?
The Russia invasion of Ukraine is behind the agro tension in the Eastern and Central Europe region. When the conflict commenced, Russia had blocked the Black Sea port routes which Ukraine relied on to export agricultural products.
However, after several months, the two countries signed an agreement in August 2022, the Black Sea grain deal, which allowed Ukraine resume exportation. In addition to this, the European Union (EU) removed duties on Ukrainian grains to assist its economy and ensure nothing prevented it from shipping the produce.
Hence, Ukrainian grains became cheaper in neighbouring countries at the detriment of local farmers. What followed was protests from disgruntled farmers who could not compete with the influx of Ukraine agricultural products.
In response, the countries are making moves to protect their local farmers. A move that the European Commission has rejected because the decisions were made unilaterally. An Aljazeera report says that the EU representatives would meet to discuss the issue later in April 2023.
Meanwhile, as Slovakia is making its intention known, Hungary is saying that it may extend the ban beyond June.
âThe first step, in our opinion, should be the opening of transit, because it is quite important and it is the thing that should be done unconditionally and after that we will talk about other things,
