Agriculture Minister Yavor Gechev confirmed on Monday that Bulgaria can limit grain imports from Ukraine and thus ensure higher prices for Bulgarian grain producers. The paradoxical thing was that the minister pointed this out while together with Vanya Boyuklieva, the vice-chairman of the Central Cooperative Union, announced that the dairy products of “LB Bulgarikum”, whose prices were reduced a month ago by 30%, will begin to be available in the country’s stores. The minister indicated the prices of the state dairy and expressed the hope that they would “pull a leg” on the market.
“BGN 2.60 per liter of fresh milk, BGN 12-13 per kilogram of cheese according to BDS and BGN 18 per kilogram of cheese. There is already an alternative, of course we want this to go away”said Gechev.
The Minister of Agriculture: EC works extremely slowly
“We are not just considering (restricting imports from Ukraine), September was the first request from the EC, I asked for it. We are in solidarity with Ukraine, but the EC works extremely slowly, very sluggishly.”, said Gechev. His comment came hours after Brussels announced that it considers the introduced unilateral bans on the import of products from Ukraine unacceptable.
“The European Commission is aware that Poland and Hungary have announced the introduction of bans on the import of grain and other agricultural products from Ukraine. In this context, we consider it important to remind that EU trade policy is the exclusive competence of the entire community, so any unilateral actions are not allowed”the press service of the EC announced.
On Monday the agriculture minister said he was disappointed by the revelation of an EC spokespersonthat “EU trade policy is the exclusive competence of the entire community”.
To a question how much the Bulgarian grain producers lose from the more competitive imports of grain from Ukrainethe Minister of Agriculture replied – “a lot”. He pointed out that “the difference in prices is 800 – 900 million BGN were lost by the farmers, it is sold below cost price”. However, it was not clear how this calculation was made and whether it includes the European subsidies that farmers receive. On an annual basis, subsidies for land amount to over 1.5 billion BGN. As Mediapool repeatedly wrote in the period from 2023 to 2027, farmers will receive 4,400,517,396 euros under these subsidies.
The import of grain, as well as sunflower and dry milk, from Ukraine is currently stopped in certain countries, and we insist on a fair distribution throughout the European Union, Yavor Gechev also said.
“We have already been waiting for the EC to decide for 6 months – this issue has been raised at the highest level. What should we do, let the Bulgarian farmers go bankrupt”commented Gechev.
The turnover of the state dairy increased 2 times
The Minister of Agriculture, Yavor Gechev, pointed out that after lowering the prices of dairy products from the state dairy “LB Bulgarikum”, the turnover of the company has increased twice. Because of this, the state had to help the company in the search for milk suppliers, and additional ones were provided.
The Minister of Agriculture believes that the new parliament will accept the caretaker government’s proposal to introduce a ceiling on the mark-ups of certain food products. He recalled that the idea of the project is that the markup of 1 or 2 products from each range of products will be 10% markup. It is proposed that the potential law will be implemented for 6 months.
“We have given enough good examples of the distortion of the market. I think the time has come. The economy needs certain regulations, because without them, market methods are broken”explained the Minister of Agriculture.
Slovakia also temporarily suspends imports of Ukrainian grain
Slovakia will temporarily stop the import of grain and other selected products from Ukraine, the government press service reported, as quoted by Reuters. The decision will be discussed at an expert meeting later today, after similar measures have already been announced by Poland and Hungary.
At the same time, according to a high-ranking representative of the EU, the permanent representatives of the member states in Brussels will discuss this week the bans on Ukrainian imports, announced earlier by Poland and Hungary.
Low world market prices and weak demand mean the grain stays in the EU rather than being sold. Oversupply has emerged as a political issue for Poland’s ruling Law and Justice party in an election year.
“We expect Poland and Hungary to present some kind of explanation, there will also be a reaction from the European Commission,” said the European representative, who said the issue was raised at the last EU summit, including by Slovakia and Romania.
“There is a problem and we expect the Commission to come up with a proposal on the issue… We will see what we can do in the coming weeks and months,” he added.
Ukraine’s Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food Mykola Solsky said earlier that Kiev intended to look for ways to resume grain transit through Poland as a “first step” in talks to be held today in Warsaw.
