Pain to be felt in the EU food and farming sector due to Ukraine war
Europe does not have enough grains to feed the animals kept in farms and as the Ukrainian war tends to escalate there is no proxy supplier to be found in a short time. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine will have serious knock-on effects that could be "painful" for Europe’s farmers and the broader food system, a senior EU official warned in the European Parliament this week. "The consequences of this Russian aggression will have a major impact on our agri-food sector and it will be painful. But we have to suffer that pain. There are no ship movements in or out of the Ukrainian ports at the Black Sea. Moreover, the expectation is that that situation will not change for the very obvious reason that there’s a war in progress," Michael Scannell, a representative at the Commission’s agriculture department.
Russia and Ukraine jointly account for more than 30 percent of the world’s trade in wheat and barley, 17 percent of corn and over 50 percent of sunflower oil, seeds and cakes for feeding animals. All the exports from Ukraine have stopped due to the war, while Russia is hit by international sanctions, mostly coming from the EU, USA and other NATO member states or allies.
Meantime, German MEPs are starting to question themselves if the EU agriculture system is really sustainable in this new geopolitical context. "Can we afford to feed 70% of our cereals to pigs and poultry? We have to think about building up a sustainable agricultural system", said German Green MEP Martin Hausling.
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