EU sees “difficult” to replace Ukrainian grain supply

The European Commissioner for Agriculture, Janusz Wojciechowski, warned that it will be “difficult” for the European Union (EU) find alternative sources of supply cereals and oilseeds from Ukraine and used in the community club for agricultural production in sectors such as pigs.

“The EU pig sector is highly dependent on imports from Ukraine for a variety of grains and oilseeds. It will be difficult to find alternative sources of supply in an already tight and expensive market,” the politician wrote on Twitter.

The commissioner spoke like this this Thursday on the occasion of the first meeting of the European think tank on pork meat, in which representatives of the Member States and the supply chain of the pork sector participated.

The group was launched in the face of the crisis in the field of pork, affected by the restrictions derived from the pandemic, the drop in exports to China, the expansion of swine fever or the increase in the costs of inputs, such as energy or feed.

To all this, the Russian invasion of Ukraine has been added, since that country was an important supplier of cereals and oilseeds, such as sunflower. Some of the agricultural products that were imported from the former Soviet republic are essential to feed livestock in the Twenty-seven.

At Thursday’s meeting, the commissioner assumed that the coming months will pose “new challenges to our own agri-food system.”

“Trade in a number of important products will be affected. Indeed, our main exports to Ukraine are animal products, especially poultry and, of course, pork,” he stressed, stressing that the invasion of Ukraine “not only has an impact on pork exports, but also there are also direct consequences for the production of pork.”

Ukraine is the fourth largest external supplier of food to the EU, providing 52% of corn imports, 19% of common wheat and 23% of vegetable oils.

“There is no need to say what this means for the EU pig sector, given its heavy reliance on imports from Ukraine for a variety of grains and oilseeds. It will be difficult to find alternative sources of supply in a market that is already very tight and expensive”, the commissioner reiterated at the meeting.

He assured that the European Commission (EC) is “coordinating the European response” to support the sector.

In this sense, he said that national State aid, crisis reserves or private storage are available, which implies the granting of European aid to temporarily withdraw product from the market to recover prices, with the aim that by reducing the offer the amounts improve.

He added that the Community Executive continues to develop its response and will provide guidance “in the coming weeks.”

“The invasion of Ukraine makes us realize how interconnected we all are and examine what form our connections take. That is exactly the kind of issue that needs to be discussed in this group. To what extent is our reliance on imported feed sustainable?” he posed.

Likewise, he stressed that the current and previous crises in the pork sector have arisen from “excessive dependence” on specific export markets, and mentioned China and Russia.

“Is it right to have a situation in which a trading partner can cause a crisis in the sector practically overnight?” ”.

The objective of the reflection group is to review all aspects of the pig sector to guarantee its sustainability in socioeconomic, environmental, climatic, and animal health and welfare terms.