Poland Wants Ban on Ukrainian Grain Imports Until End of Year

WARSAW (Sputnik) - The proposed ban on the imports of Ukrainian agricultural products into the European Union must be prolonged until the end of the year, Polish Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Robert Telus said on Monday.

"The European Union proposed [the ban] until June. We certainly do not agree with it. Until June is a too short period of time, we need [a ban] until the end of the year," he said following the talks with his Bulgarian, Romanian, Slovakian and Hungarian counterparts.

"We need the mechanisms that we introduce today to act longer and protect our Polish market longer."

Telus added that on Tuesday in Luxembourg, he will stand before the European Commission to present the common position of the five countries, which have suffered from the glut of cheap Ukrainian grain.

Bulgaria, Romania, Slovakia, Hungary and Poland insist on financial compensations to local farmers and on a broader list of Ukrainian agricultural products prohibited for imports in the EU.

On April 20, Brussels proposed a mechanism to stop imports of Ukrainian grain, corn, sunflower seeds and rapeseed into the EU until June 5.

On April 15, Poland and Hungary said they were banning imports of Ukrainian agricultural products until June 30, citing the need to protect domestic farmers from the uncontrolled influx of cheap grain from Ukraine. On April 17, Slovakia followed suit. On April 19, Bulgaria also announced a temporary ban on food imports from Ukraine, except for goods in transit.