Blockade of Ukrainian grain supplies by Hungary, Poland and Slovakia could impact Spain

As the world’s second-largest buyer of Ukrainian grain, Spain could be impacted by the suspension of the import of agricultural products by Slovakia, Hungary and Poland.

Slovakia, Hungary and Poland have all announced that they will suspend imports of Ukrainian agricultural products. Essentially this applies to cereals and grain. Bulgaria and Romania are also said to contemplating similar action.

This move could have a huge impact on Spain, the biggest buyer of goods via the Black Sea corridor in Europe, and second only in the world to China.

The Black Sea is the corridor through which grain is transported from Ukraine to the rest of Europe. Internally, the entry without quotas or tariffs of thousands of tons of Ukrainian grain in recent months has had an impact on the internal markets of these three countries, unbalancing them.

Ukraine happens to be one of the great granaries of the world. Its grain – currently due to the support of the European Union to Kyiv – enters community territory without the same demands or controls of imports from other third countries.

At the moment, the European Commission is studying the measure, since it is responsible for commercial matters. Spain may be forced to import more Ukrainian grain due to the drought, so it would be the last party interested in introducing tariffs or other controls on these goods.

The massive introduction of Ukrainian grain has recently generated significant protests by farmers in Poland. Their anger led to the resignation last week of Henryk Kowalczyk, the former Minister of Agriculture. He had asked Brussels to recover tariff controls on this raw material.

Now, the government of the Law and Justice Party (PiS) has decided to cut their losses in the face of the impact that this situation may have on the upcoming elections in this country in November. PiS, a very conservative party, has farmers and ranchers as an important part of its voters.