Poland receives draft EU regulation extending ban on Ukrainian food imports

WARSAW (Reuters) – Poland's agriculture minister has received a draft regulation from the European Commission extending a ban on imports of some Ukrainian food products until September 15, he said on Monday.

The EU on May 2 set restrictions until June 5 on imports of Ukrainian wheat, maize, rapeseed and sunflower seed to ease the excess supply of the grains in Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia.

Those countries had complained that cheaper Ukrainian grain was making domestic production unprofitable and had asked the EU to extend the ban.

"We have received from the EC a draft of a new regulation banning the import of 4 products to the 5 countries," Robert Telus wrote on Twitter. "The effective date provided for in the draft is September 15 this year."

"It's a draft but I hope it will come into force from tomorrow," he added.

A European Commission spokesperson did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.

Ukrainian wheat, maize, rapeseed and sunflower seed can be sold to any other country in the 27-nation bloc.

The EU had earlier liberalised all imports from Ukraine to help Kyiv's efforts to fend off Russia's invasion. The five countries became transit routes for Ukrainian grain that could not be exported through its Black Sea ports because the war.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Thursday called for the unconditional removal of all export restrictions on Ukrainian agricultural products at talks with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

(Reporting by Alan Charlish and Pawel Florkiewicz in Warsaw, additional reporting by Charlotte Van Campenhout in Brussels, Editing by William Maclean)