Since the opening of the EU markets in 2022, Ukrainian agricultural imports have been exploded to the EU. According to the EU Commission, the imports of certain agricultural products from Ukraine increased by up to 240 percent compared to the years before the war. Bread grain, honey, corn, sugar and poultry are particularly affected.
“Due to the Ukraine import of products well below our standards, the market is so distorted that our farmers can no longer keep up here. This is an enormous economic burden, ensures existential concerns and endangers domestic security of care,” warns EU member Alexander Bernhuber.
“We are calling for an EU emergency brake in agricultural Ukraine imports. It has to be traded now. There must be no ‘further as before’,” Bernhuber and Lower Austria Bauernbund Director Paul Nemecek clarify.
Starting harvest time brings thousands of tons of Ukraine imports
The harvest time begins in Austria in a few weeks. While domestic farmers ensure the best quality with hard work, the concerns about their operational future are increasing. Thousands of tons of Ukrainian cheap imports continue to come to the European market and ensure unfair competition. What started with an emergency aid for Ukraine has developed into a market distortion due to low standards two years later.
“We produce here with far stricter environmental, animal welfare and social standards than in Ukraine. This is not a fair competition and endangers security security,” Nemecek shows the worrying situation. But it is not just about sales problems, exerpting markets and sources of income for domestic farms. The disadvantages for consumers are sometimes blatant.
“We are currently importing what we have long been forbidden. Cage eggs or forbidden pesticides are celebrating a real renaissance on our plates,” Bernhuber indicates this unfair competition.
Brussels is still looking for the balance
As a logical consequence, Bernhuber and Nemecek require that the EU quickly returns to a system with tariffs and quantity limits – as was the case before the war.
“In addition, we need fair rules and above all the same rules for everyone. Those who do not produce according to our standards must not be on our shelves. Our proposal: import rates for sensitive products, coupled with strict quality and origin controls,” said the two agricultural politicians.
They want to emphasize their concerns in Brussels by the new European farmers’ association, which was created on the initiative of Bernhuber and Nemecek. The Lower Austrian Bauernbund rely on the fact that there could be a trend -setting decision in Brussels in the coming weeks. There you continue to try to find the balance between solidarity and security of supply.