Eastern European countries push for bans on Ukrainian grain to be extended until end of year

Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, Romania and Bulgaria have put forward a joint demand to extend the temporary bans on Ukrainian grain until the end of the year, even if Brussels had insisted the measures would be phased out for good by 15 September.

Under the bans, wheat, maize, rapeseed and sunflower seed coming from Ukraine can transit through the five Eastern European countries but not stay inside their markets for domestic consumption or storage purposes.

The Eastern coalition says this list of targeted products should "remain open" and possibly cover goods "other than cereals and oilseeds," something that the European Commission had previously ruled out.

"In the event that the preventive measure is not extended, this will have a profound impact in the frontline member states on the prices and the storage capacity, which is essential for the grain to be harvested," the countries wrote in a common document.

The idea was discussed on Tuesday during a meeting of EU agriculture and fisheries ministers in Brussels, where diverging views came forth.

"Imports from Ukraine have caused a drop in grain and oilseed prices, thus bringing large losses to Romanian farmers who find themselves in the very difficult situation of selling their products at prices lower than production costs," said Florin-Ionuț Barbu, Romania's minister for agriculture and rural development.

"Unfortunately, the support granted continues to be low when compared to the losses incurred by producers and only partially solves the difficult situation."

His French counterpart, Marc Fesneau, warned against "going it alone" and underlined the need to act collectively to find "intelligent solutions" based on economic data. France is among the countries that have expressed