On Tuesday 24 May, the EU agriculture ministers stressed the urgent need to help Ukraine export its cereals in the context of the war unleashed by Russia.
The round table at the Council “showed the shared urgency of being able to help Ukraine export its cereals. It is necessary for Ukraine, it is essential at a time when international markets are tense and it is essential in view of future harvests”, declared Marc Fesneau, Minister for Agriculture, at the press conference.
“We are all following the developments in Ukraine very closely, from both a humanitarian and agricultural perspective”, Commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski told the ministers.
Currently, all eyes are on the Ukrainian planting season and the expected food production.
“We know that this will have a significant impact on the global availability of cereals and oilseeds”, the Commissioner added.
The situation is as follows: - sowing of the first group of spring crops is completed; - maize, sunflower and soya are still being sown; - the harvest is expected to be 20-30% lower than last year.
The Commission hopes to know more by the end of May, when the sowing season is over.
The immediate priority is to get grain out of Ukraine, the Commissioner said. According to the Commission, the silos should be emptied so that they can be filled with the new crop, if possible.
Getting this grain out is important for global supply, especially for countries that rely heavily on imports from Ukraine.
“We have to be realistic about the amount of grain that can be transported out of Ukraine. It will be difficult to replace the export capacity of the Black Sea ports”, Wojciechowski concluded.
Berlin wants to postpone crop rotation. On Tuesday, German Agriculture Minister Cem Özdemir called for the postponement of the new Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) provisions on crop rotation to allow farmers to grow more wheat to cope with the consequences of the war. The rotation rule, which is due to come into force in January 2023, is one of the conditions for a farmer to receive direct payments under the new CAP. Mr Özdemir asked the Commission to postpone the application of this rule until 2024. While the “high level of self-sufficiency in Germany, but also throughout the European Union, ensures food security in Europe”, this is not the case elsewhere and “we have a responsibility to the rest of the world”, he said. He denounced the “wheat war” waged by Russian President Vladimir Putin, who “uses hunger as a weapon”. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)