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BUDAPEST. — Hungary will add honey and certain meat products to a list of food items it has temporarily banned from being imported from Ukraine in an effort to relieve market pressures on Hungarian farmers, a government minister said yesterday.
Along with honey and meat, Hungary’s government has banned the import of 25 Ukrainian products including grains, oil seeds, flour, and cooking oil until June 30, minister Gergely Gulyás told a news conference. The government will also require shipments of those products coming from third countries to be monitored to make sure they aren’t coming from Ukraine,.
The import ban announced on Saturday came in response to what the government says is a glut of Ukrainian agricultural products on the Hungarian market which has made it impossible for Hungarian farmers to remain competitive.
Poland, Slovakia and Bulgaria have taken similar steps in the last week, arguing that their agricultural sectors had been hurt after the European Union lifted duties on Ukrainian grain to ease exports when Russia’s war choked off shipments through traditional routes.
“We’ve seen in the last weeks and months that it has ruined the Hungarian agricultural market,” Gulyás said. “We are glad to help Ukraine, but we must see clearly that solidarity cannot ruin Hungarian farmers, the Hungarian economy and especially Hungarian agriculture.” – AP
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