The Cabinet of Ministers has resumed sugar exports to Romania and set a quota for the supply of this product in the amount of 20,000 tonnes until September 15.
As the representative of the Cabinet of Ministers in the Verkhovna Rada, Taras Melnychuk, reported on his Telegram channel, the decision to amend the volume of quotas for goods which export is subject to licensing, approved by government resolution No. 1466 dated December 27, 2022 “On approval of the lists of goods, the export and import of which is subject to licensing and quotas for 2023” adopted at a government meeting on Friday.
According to the report, applications for obtaining licenses will be considered in the manner established by the Ministry of Economy, and the issuance of licenses – based on applications for obtaining licenses to export such goods to Romania and approvals by the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food.
Licenses will be issued within one day without the involvement of a subject of foreign economic activity as part of the interagency exchange of information.
An earthquake with a magnitude of 4.1 on the Richter scale was recorded in the area of the Vrancea mountains in Romania on Sunday, the Main Center of Special Control reported.
“On June 17, 2023 at 13:13:06 (Kiev time), the Main Special Control Center registered an earthquake from the territory of Romania, in the area of the Vrancea Mountains, with a magnitude of 4.1 (on the Richter scale),” the SCSC said in a Facebook post on Saturday.
This earthquake is reportedly classified as barely perceptible according to the earthquake classification. The vibrations are only felt by individuals who are calm indoors, especially on the upper floors. This earthquake does not pose a threat to the population of Ukraine.
The last powerful earthquakes from the Vrancea area were registered on December 16 and 17, 2022 with magnitudes of 4.1 and 4.4, (on the Richter scale), respectively.
From Monday, April 24, Romania will start sealing vehicles carrying Ukrainian agricultural products in transit, Ukrtransbesecurity reported in a telegram on Sunday following a meeting between Ukrainian Agrarian Policy Minister Mykola Solskyi and his Romanian counterpart Petru Dea.
“The Romanian customs authorities will install seals on trucks with Ukrainian agricultural transit goods,” the release said.
According to it, it is important for carriers transiting through Romania to prepare a truck for sealing and to arrive at the border only after fulfilling the relevant conditions.
Earlier this week, similar requirements for the sealing of transit Ukrainian agricultural road freight were introduced by Poland
Romania, Hungary and Slovakia will not limit the transit of agricultural products from Ukraine, but negotiations continue on the issue of imports into the countries’ territory. Imports into Poland in transit mode will resume with a T1 declaration, with the use of the SENT system to track the movement of cargo through Poland and cargo seals, said Agrarian Policy Minister Mykola Solsky at an extraordinary meeting of the Coordinating Council under the Agrarian Policy Ministry on Tuesday evening.
According to him, shipments of agricultural products, which will be delivered to Poland in transit, will continue to move across the country’s territory at 00:00 on April 21, accompanied by Polish customs officers.
The issue of transit by rail with the transshipment from wide-rail wagons (for tracks 1520 mm) to narrow-rail (for tracks 1435 mm) is still open. Market participants are expected to receive details of the procedure tomorrow at the Coordinating Council of the Ministry of Agriculture, which is scheduled for 10:30 a.m.
The ban on imports of agricultural products in accordance with the list in the annex to the order of the Minister of Development and Technology of Poland Waldemar Buda from April 15, 2023 has not been canceled.
Earlier it was reported that Ukraine and Poland agreed on the resumption of transit of banned for importation agricultural products: it will work at night from April 20 to April 21, 2023. Additional control measures will be applied to the transit. According to the Ministry of Agriculture of Poland, customs, tax and other services will accompany the transport to its destination. In addition, the SENT mechanism and electronic seals will be applied, by means of which each consignment of goods will be tracked.
Poland on April 15, after the farmers’ congress, made a unilateral decision to temporarily prohibit the import of any agricultural products from Ukraine until June 30, 2023. This happened despite the fact that on July 7, a bilateral agreement was reached with Ukraine on the temporary suspension of exports of only four crops – wheat, corn, rapeseed and sunflower, while transit continued, but with stricter conditions, which the parties planned to agree on quickly.
Hungary and Slovakia made similar decisions afterwards.
Farmers in Romania and Bulgaria staged protests on Friday against the European Union’s decision to exempt agricultural products from Ukraine, which has oversupplied local markets and contributed to lower prices, the Associated Press (AP) reported on Friday.
“Farmers in Romania and Bulgaria organized protests on Friday over the European Union’s stance on excessive supplies of Ukrainian agricultural products that have flooded local markets and weakened prices,” AP reports.
Protests were held in Bucharest and other cities in Romania. In Bulgaria, farmers blocked several border crossings.
“There are less than three months left before the new harvest and there is a danger that the products will not be able to be sold above the production price,” AP quoted Liliana Peron, executive director of the Romanian Farmers Association, as saying.
In recent weeks, Polish farmers have also been protesting against the EU’s duty-free supplies of Ukrainian grain to European markets, forcing the country’s Agriculture Minister Henryk Kowalczyk to resign.
Last year, the EU abolished customs tariffs for Ukraine to allow for freer grain supplies.
On Monday, the European Commission announced its desire to help the population of Ukraine by organizing the export of Ukrainian grain, but it is making sure that the EU market does not suffer too much from Kyiv’s support measures.
Romanian authorities are introducing new rules for housing and food subsidies for Ukrainian refugees starting from May: now the money will be received only by those who have found a job, the EFE news agency reported.
In addition, those citizens of Ukraine whose children go to school in Romania will be able to count on the subsidies.
Under the new rules, the state will no longer pay housing costs to landlords who house refugees, and tenants will receive subsidies directly. Refugee camps will receive subsidies from the state as before. Details of these rules will be made public at a later date, the agency notes.
EFE explains that Bucharest has taken such measures against the background of a significant labor shortage in Romania. More than 3.8 million Ukrainians arrived in the country since February 2022, but the vast majority went to other European countries. According to Romanian authorities, about 110,000 Ukrainian refugees currently remain in the country, but less than 10 percent of them have a work contract.
