News

On 03/05/2022, the European Commission published data on agri-food trade in the EU. Trade in January 2022 reached €28.3 billion, which is 25% more than in the same period in 2021. The value of exports increased by 16%, while imports increased by 38%. The largest increase in exports was recorded in the United Kingdom, the USA and China, which together account for 40% of all exported agri-food products. On the contrary, most imports are from the USA, Brazil, Great Britain and Ukraine.
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Fediol, representing the European vegetable oils and protein meal industry in Europe, issued a statement on 04/05/2022 stating that the sunflower oil market in the European Union had stabilized slightly in recent weeks. Producers have adapted to the shortage of oil supplies from Ukraine, with some deliveries arriving by rail and in trucks. Biodiesel producers have reduced the use of sunflowers in their fuels, food producers have changed their recipes to use other vegetable oils, such as rapeseed or palm oil.
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On 27/04/2022, the European Commission proposed suspending all import duties and quotas on Ukrainian exports to the EU for a period of one year. The proposal also covers the suspension of all existing EU anti-dumping and safeguard measures, even in this case for one year. The new rules should help strengthen Ukraine's exports to the EU and thus alleviate the difficult situation of Ukrainian producers. The relaxation of the rules applies to all Ukrainian agricultural products, including eggs, dairy products, sugar, and poultry meat, as well as other industrial goods. The entry price system for fruit and vegetables should also be abolished. The Commission proposal must now be discussed by the European Parliament and the Council, probably as early as May 2022.
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Janusz Wojciechowski, Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, met with Ukrainian Minister of Agriculture Mykola Solsky on 27/04/2022. At the meeting, the coordination of support for Ukrainian agriculture and the possibility of transporting goods to and from Ukraine was discussed - it is mainly the export of remaining grain from Ukraine. Lithuania plans to help with this - a railway line from the Ukrainian Medika through Poland to the Lithuanian port of Klaipeda could be used for exports. However, transport is complicated by the heterogeneity of rails across Member States. Transport is currently largely constrained across Europe, and rail transport solutions will also be discussed at the UN Food and Agriculture Organization conference on 10/05/2022 in Poland.
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Last week, European Commission Executive Vice President Frans Timmermans vehemently rejected pressure to suspend EU's ambitious environmental goals in the context of the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. Timmermans said critics of the Farm to Fork strategy were now trying to put pressure on the postponement or reassessment of the goals of the Green Deal or Farm to Fork, given the need to prevent the risk of food shortages in the EU. According to Timmermans, these groups of critics only use the war as an excuse to stop Farm to Fork. Timmermans said any deteriorating access to food would be due to logistical or economic reasons, not food shortages.
More information is available here.