Bulgaria decided to cancel the Ukrainian grain import ban

The Bulgarian parliament on Thursday 14th September decided not to extend a ban on imports of wheat, maize, rapeseed, and sunflower seed from Ukraine beyond September 15.

In June, the European Commission extended until September 15 a temporary freeze on the imports of Ukrainian grain into the so-called frontline member states – Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and Slovakia, after protests from local agricultural producers and concerns expressed by the five countries about the burden on local producers from cheap grain imports.

On Wednesday, the Bulgarian government said it supported a draft decision not to extend the ban but would seek additional financial support from the Commission to offset the losses of Bulgarian agricultural producers, especially sunflower growers.

Bulgaria’s imports of Ukrainian Sunflower will create competition and stop the fall in prices  Bulgaria’s lifting of restrictions on imports of Ukrainian agricultural products will generate competition and stop the decline in sunflower prices said  Stepan Kapshuk, Director of Ukroliyaprom, at the international conference Black Sea Grain & Oil-2023.  “I am against lowering prices and making farmers lose money. We had a balance of interests. Everyone was interested. The farmer is interested in growing sunflowers. “we are interested in processing and selling it,” said Kapshuk.