Bulgarian vegetable oil producers lobby government to end ban on vital Ukraine imports
Bulgaria is considering lifting a ban on sunflower imports from Ukraine introduced in September, with local vegetable oil producers demanding access to supplies of Ukrainian sunflower seeds, the Bulgarian media outlet Agricensus reported on Nov. 23.
Bulgarian vegetable oil producers reiterated their demand to return to full liberalization of sunflower imports from Ukraine, as they "have been waiting for two-and-a-half months to see what happens".
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Representatives of the producers said they had not been consulted before the ban on imports from Ukraine was imposed.
The Bulgarian government's position remains uncertain: on the one hand, the authorities say that oil producers will not be left without raw materials, but at the same time they do not confirm that the import ban will be lifted, Agricensus writes. The government is keeping the details under wraps to potentially curb any discontent among Bulgarian farmers, the publication wrote.
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The uncertainty of the situation has caused market turmoil and intensified rumors about the need for supplies of Ukrainian sunflower and rapeseed, given the smaller harvest this season. According to the local market sources, the sunflower harvest in Bulgaria in 2023/24 season is estimated at 1.6 million tonnes, which is almost 24% less than last year.
On Sept. 18, farmers in Bulgaria began protests across the country over the parliament's decision to unblock imports of agricultural products from Ukraine. Later, Prime Minister Nikolay Denkov said that Bulgaria would soon impose a ban on imports of Ukrainian sunflower seeds.
On Sept. 30, the Bulgarian Ministry of Agriculture and Farming announced that the country had banned imports of sunflower seeds from Ukraine until the end of November.
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After this period, the export licensing regime for sunflower, wheat, corn, and rapeseed will be in effect, according to the agreed plan between Ukraine and the European Commission, the Bulgarian Ministry said.
In its turn, Ukraine’s Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food reported that Sofia has no objections to the export of the other three crops.
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