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| Workers load grain onto trucks at a port in Odessa, Ukraine, in June 2022. (Source: Reuters) |
Romania is one of five eastern European Union (EU) countries that have seen an increase in grain imports from Ukraine since the conflict broke out, affecting their domestic markets and causing protests from farmers.
In May 2023, the EU was supposed to adopt trade restrictions on Ukrainian agricultural products, but they expired on September 15 and were not renewed. Immediately, on the same day, Poland, Slovakia and Hungary announced unilateral bans.
The Romanian government said it would decide on how to protect domestic farmers after Ukraine presents a plan to resolve the issue on September 18.
“If a country like Poland has made such a unilateral decision after September 15, we do not understand why Romania is hesitant to do the same… Our request does not affect the transportation of Ukrainian agricultural products through Romania to other destinations because this is still ongoing,” the Romanian Farmers’ Union said in a statement.
According to statistics, in the first eight months of 2023, Ukraine shipped 9.2 million tons of grain through the Romanian port of Constanta. In 2022, this figure was 8.6 million tons.
The Black Sea port of Constanta is Ukraine's main export destination after Russia abandoned a grain deal in mid-July.
On the same day, September 16, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov said that two cargo ships had arrived at Ukrainian ports, becoming the first ships to use the temporary corridor to enter ports on the Black Sea coast and transport grain for African and Asian markets.
According to Mr. Kubrakov, cargo ships named "Resilient Africa" and "Aroyat" arrived at Ukrainian ports to load nearly 20,000 tons of wheat for the above markets.
Also on the same day, data from maritime tracking company MarineTraffic showed that the Aroyat had docked at the Ukrainian port of Chornomorsk.
Last month, Ukraine announced the creation of a “humanitarian corridor” in the Black Sea to open the way for cargo ships stranded in its ports since the conflict with Russia, as well as to break a de facto blockade after Moscow abandoned a deal to allow Kiev to export grain.
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