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3.3 million tons of Ukraine cereals sent through Constanta port in quarter 1
Ukraine delivered 3.33 million tons of cereals through Constanta port in quarter 1, the Port Authority informed Reuters.
For 2022, exporters delivered 8.6 million tons of cereals from Ukraine through Constanta, the cereals reaching the Black Sea port via railway, by trucks of barges on the Danube. The port of Constanta, which has a storing capacity of 2 million tons, intermediated cereal exports of 24.02 million tons last year.
The CFR railwasy operator declared for Reuters that in 2022 reopened or rehabilitated 47 rails connecting Romania, Ukraine and Moldova. Railway repairs in Constanta port are carried out now.
However, millions of tons of cereals from Ukraine, which are cheaper than EU products, continue to reach neighbor countries because of logistic blockings and shorter distances. In these conditions, disconted among farmers in Central and Eastern Europe grew because of the wave of cheap cereal imports from Ukraine, exempted from customs duties until June 2024.
The Polish minister of agriculture resigned last week following the farmers' protests, while in Romania thousands of farmers blocked road traffic and customs on Friday.
Premiers of Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary and Slovakia have recently asked EU to take measures for the imports of farm produce from Ukraine.
On Friday, Polish authorities announced they would temporarily stop cereal imports from Ukraine in the domestic market, but they would continue to allow the transit of Ukrainian cereals.
“For me, the temporary stop of imports is the solution which, at this moment, could bring a certain comfort for farmers in the area,” Petre Daea, the minister of agriculture told Reuters, adding that the European Commission should approve the cessation of imports.