Sunflower seeds remain in warehouses without a buyer. Competition with Ukrainian grain worries Angel Vukodinov, a Bulgarian farmer who was not reassured by the latest announcements from Brussels.

“We don’t have anything against the Ukrainians,” but this situation is not sustainable and “the financial aid offered by the EU to compensate for our losses is ridiculous!”, he complains.

From Poland to Romania, passing through Slovakia and Hungary, thousands of farmers are angry because of the large influx of grain and other products from Ukraine.

“Injustice”

Bulgaria, a major producer of sunflower oil, received about 940,000 tonnes of seeds from Ukraine last year, half of what Kiev exported to the EU.

Romania is in second place with almost 360,000 tons. In early April, the country’s farmers took out their tractors to close the border crossings together with their Bulgarian colleagues.

“The government and the European authorities have been unfair to us,” said trade unionist Florentin Bertsou at the time. “Contrary to their pledges, much of the grain, which should have simply passed through our territory, was left stranded here.”

In Poland, the protests of the last few weeks prompted the resignation of the agriculture minister.

After the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the EU suspended in May 2022, and for one year, tariffs on all imported Ukrainian products.

The 27 EU countries have organized so that Ukraine can export its grain stocks to Africa and the Middle East, creating “corridors of solidarity” after the Black Sea sea lanes are closed.

But instead of grain simply passing through their territory, Ukraine’s neighboring European states saw corn or wheat piling up due to logistical problems and weak infrastructure.

“Nobody was dealing with what was happening,” says Marin Iliev, who represents grain producers in Bulgaria’s Plovdiv region. “Small streams became big rivers and prices collapsed,” he adds.

Millions of euros in aid

After approaching 870 euros a ton in March 2022, after the Russian invasion, the price of sunflower seeds has fallen to around 360 euros, which does not allow to cover production costs, Iliev explains. At the same time, the prices of fertilizers rose sharply.

But some experts believe that the farmers were caught in their own trap.

“Why didn’t they sell their crop earlier? In 2022 they delayed expecting even higher prices”, complains Nikolai Valkanov of InteliAgro.

Their customers “sensibly” decided to switch to Ukrainian grain that had flooded the market, he adds.

Faced with this discontent, the European Commission presented an initial package of €56.3m to support the most affected producers, before proposing this week to release an additional €100m.

“Brussels is trying to limit the indignation, but the uncertainty persists”, estimates Iliev.

Sofia, Warsaw, Budapest and Bratislava rushed to the aid of their producers, unilaterally banning all imports of Ukrainian grain.

Only Bucharest refrained from this drastic measure.

But all are calling for a permanent solution at European level and discussions are underway ahead of Tuesday’s meeting in Brussels of agriculture ministers.

“As soon as there is a concrete proposal, the Hungarian government will of course be ready to change its stance,” commented Gergely Gulias, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s chief of staff, on Thursday.

“But it is unacceptable to destroy the internal market with Ukrainian grain which should face the famine in Africa!”, he stressed.