BUDAPEST, HUNGARY — Five eastern countries of the European Union (EU) are asking for import duties to be imposed on Ukrainian grains, saying an overabundance of cheaper agricultural products from Ukraine is eating into their export markets, Reuters reported, citing Hungary’s agricultural ministry.

The farm ministers of Bulgaria, Poland, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia sent a letter to the European Commission requesting action. The five countries are among six EU member states that produce more wheat and maize than they need, which is key for European food safety and strategic sovereignty, nations’ ministers said.

“This is why Brussels needs to introduce measures that protect the markets of member states bordering Ukraine while helping them make use of their full export potential,” the letter signed by the ministers, including Hungary’s Farm Minister Istvan Nagy, said. “One of these (measures) could be introducing import duties on the most sensitive agricultural products.”

Grain exports have been a source of tension between Ukraine and its EU neighbors as Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia became alternative transit routes for Ukrainian grain to help offset slower exports via Ukraine’s Black Sea ports after the Russian invasion in 2022.

Ukraine’s larger farm sizes make the country’s grain exports cheaper and that is pushing EU farmers out of their traditional export markets, the ministers said. Farmers in Bulgaria, Poland, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia “have suffered significant damages” since the EU suspended import quotas and customs on grain from Ukraine last year, they said.

The ministers also are calling on the European Commission to examine in a report whether Ukraine’s production guidelines are in line with EU standards.

The complaints were addressed to EU Trade Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis and Farm Commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski.

Poland, Slovakia and Hungary announced restrictions on Ukrainian grain imports last September after the European Commission decided not to extend a ban on imports into Ukraine’s five EU neighbors. All three bans only apply to domestic imports and do not affect transit to onward markets.

Ukraine responded by complaining to the World Trade Organization against the three countries, while other EU members criticized the unilateral moves.

Ukraine has looked for any possible means to export its agricultural goods since Russia withdrew from the Black Sea Grain Initiative in July 2023. For nearly a year, the grain deal had allowed safe passage for Ukrainian shipments of grain on the Black Sea.

Ukraine officials expect a harvest of 79 million tonnes of grain and oilseeds in 2023-24 with an exportable surplus of 50 million tonnes. Before Russia invaded Ukraine, Ukraine made up 9% of global wheat exports, 15% of maize and 44% of sunflower oil.

Ukraine has since transported nearly 15 million tonnes of cargo via its alternative Black Sea corridor that runs along the coastline near Romania and Bulgaria toward Turkey since mid-September, mainly foodstuffs.