Romania is also very unhappy with the growing import of cheap Ukrainian grain
The Romanian Farmers Association believes that Ukrainian products have brought down the national grain market.
The Romanian media wrote about this on February 2, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
Massive deliveries of grain from Ukraine have led to the blockage of the largest Romanian port in the city of Constanta.
According to the President of the Romanian Farmers Association, Daniel Botenoiu, Romanian traders bought most of the “transit” Ukrainian grain, refusing to buy products from local producers. He stated that because of Ukrainian products, the port of Constanta is blocked, and Romanian farmers are discriminated against.
“About nine million tons of grain from Ukraine passed through Romania, and, of course, most of it remained, they were bought by Romanian traders. This led to major congestion in the port of Constanta. We sold about a thousand tons of corn, and it took about two weeks to transport this amount, which in other situations took two days. The port is currently blocked. There is a surplus of grain, which has led to a 30% drop in prices compared to the same period last year,” he said.
Botenoiu added that grain prices have always been higher at this time of year, but now they are extremely low and the downward trend continues.
“I understand that agriculture ministers have approached the EU about this and they agree that some action needs to be taken... but bankruptcy is already facing many of us,” he said.
The President of the Romanian Farmers Association emphasized that a lot of agricultural products remain in storage, and credit funds are running out.
“The elevators are overflowing with Romanian grain. Why? Traditional buyers refuse to buy from us because Ukraine grows corn, sunflowers, and wheat from genetically modified seeds. They have the right to use them. On the other hand, of course, the price is important, because for Ukrainian farmers it is almost 100 dollars less than for Romanian farmers,” noted Daniel Botenoiu.
Polish farmers also note that, due to the "uncontrolled influx of grain from Ukraine," the price of grain on the Polish market has fallen by almost a third, and they regularly hold protests about this.
Earlier, the ministers of agriculture of Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia said that unlimited grain imports from Ukraine create problems for local farmers.
However, as PolitNavigator reported , the EU refused to consider the possibility of ending preferential terms for the import of Ukrainian agricultural products.
Romania is also very unhappy with the growing import of cheap Ukrainian grain.