Agriculture minister: EU to extend ban on Ukrainian food exports until September

The EU on May 2 set restrictions on sales of Ukrainian wheat, maize, rapeseed and sunflower seed within five countries - Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia - to ease the excess supply of the grains within those countries, while allowing transit through them for export elsewhere.

Those restrictions are due to expire on Monday and while the five countries have been seeking an extension, complaining cheaper Ukrainian grain was making domestic production unprofitable, Ukraine has been lobbying for them to be lifted.

"We have received from the EC a draft of a new regulation banning the import of 4 products to the 5 countries," Robert Telus wrote on Twitter. "The effective date provided for in the draft is September 15 this year."

"It's a draft but I hope it will come into force from tomorrow," he added.

A European Commission spokesperson said no decision had yet been taken.

"There are still discussions ongoing and we will communicate when there is a decision, which will probably be later today," the spokesperson said.

The EU liberalised all imports from Ukraine for an initial 12 months from June 2022 to help Kyiv's efforts to fend off Russia's invasion. Last month it agreed to extend the tariff suspension for a further year.

The five countries saw a huge rise in imports from Ukraine following the suspension of tariffs.

Ukraine has experienced difficulties exporting through its Black Sea ports because of the war with Russia, increasing its reliance on routes through the eastern EU.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Thursday called for the unconditional removal of all export restrictions on Ukrainian agricultural products at talks with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.