The EU agriculture ministers are meeting on Wednesday 2 March, informally by video conference, to discuss how to avoid excessive disruption of agricultural markets due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
The invasion could result in “disruptions in world markets for agricultural products and commodities needed for agricultural production, such as energy and fertilisers”, says the French Presidency of the EU Council in a note seen by EUROPE, prepared in advance of the debate (see EUROPE 12900/9).
Ukraine and Russia are major players in the global grain and oilseed market. Ukraine accounts for 11% of the world wheat market and 16% of the barley market, and has become an important supplier to the European Union and its leading supplier of maize and rapeseed.
Russia is the EU’s largest supplier of fuel, and Russian fertiliser exports to the EU account for around 30% of European fertiliser imports.
In this context of likely higher production costs, particular attention should be paid in the short term to animal sectors facing higher feed prices, according to the French Presidency of the EU Council.
The export conditions for agricultural inputs to Ukraine, including seeds (to ensure the 2022/2023 production season), should also be monitored.
In such a context, “it is crucial that the European Commission give maximum visibility to all stakeholders in the European agricultural sector in order, in particular, to avoid price increases and to provide the most up-to-date information on supply”, explains the French note.
Among the avenues mentioned in the note are:
- the closest possible monitoring of market developments at European and international level (via the European Food Safety Crisis Preparedness and Response Mechanism, market observatories, etc.);
- specific monitoring of animal feed supplies to the European animal production sectors (volume and price monitoring), with particular attention to the pig sector;
- special monitoring of energy and fertiliser price developments (the European Commission is due to adopt a Communication on more affordable, secure and sustainable energy soon);
- proactively anticipate the mobilisation of authorised market measures as soon as the market situation requires it;
- identify and activate, if necessary, the regulatory levers to increase the European production capacity of agricultural products and ensure food sovereignty, in particular if the 2022/2023 production season in Ukraine is compromised.
Finally, reference is made to the need to mobilise the competent international bodies (FAO, IFAD, WFP, OECD, G20, etc.) to find solutions.
France is preparing a national resilience plan to support farms and secure income and energy and input supplies. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)