Bulgaria has suspended the import of sunflower from Ukraine and plans to introduce quotas for it

Amid strikes by Bulgarian farmers unhappy with the impact of cross-border trade on the region, the country's authorities yesterday held talks with them to resume sunflower imports from Ukraine to compensate for a potential supply shortfall. It was decided to extend the ban on all imports until a quarter or license system is implemented between Ukraine and Bulgaria.

The hot and dry weather in Bulgaria has reduced the prospects of own production of sunflower, so processors have repeatedly turned to the country's authorities for help in arranging supplies of raw materials. But now the government has sided with the farmers amid disagreements over the impact of Ukrainian agricultural products on the markets of neighboring EU countries.

"Processors need raw materials, but farmers have funds and political influence at the local level, and local elections will be held in the country in a month," Bulgarian traders explain the situation.

According to Bulgarian experts, in 2022/23 the country will harvest 1.7-1.8 million tons of sunflower, and neighboring Romania - 2.3 million tons, which is 17% and 11.5% less than the August forecast, respectively.

At the same time, the previously concluded contracts for sunflower deliveries to the country are currently frozen and await the final decision of the authorities.

We will remind that on September 14, the Bulgarian government decided to cancel the temporary ban on deliveries of Ukrainian agricultural products from September 15, and this decision had to be approved by the European Commission.

After the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation into Ukraine, the Black Sea ports were blocked, which made it impossible to export sunflower oil, so Ukrainian farmers were forced to intensify the export of sunflower. According to the Ministry of Agriculture, Ukraine exported 1.63 million tons of sunflower in 2021/22, and 1.9 million tons in 2022/23.

In the first half of the 2022/23 FY, before 5 EU countries neighboring Ukraine banned imports, almost 79% of sunflowers exported from Ukraine, which is 1.5 million tons, were shipped to the EU, and 33% of the indicated volume or 493,027 thousand tons were delivered to Bulgaria.

After the Armed Forces successfully attacked Russian ships, part of the submarines were transferred from Crimea to Novorossiya, which reduced the risk of attacks on the Black Sea ports of Ukraine. If after the loading of the first two vessels, sea exports become more active, then Ukraine will stop exporting sunflowers to neighboring countries and resume sunflower oil deliveries by sea, since before the war it almost did not export sunflowers.