Bulgarian farmers protest duty-free grain imports from Ukraine
If EU measure is extended to Bulgaria, market prices of cereal, oilseed crops to fall short of production costs, say farmers
ATHENS
Bulgarian farmers blocked roads in the northeastern part of the country, bordering Romania, to protest the duty-free import of grain from Ukraine, local media reported on Wednesday.
Blocking roads to border checkpoints and a port in the border town of Silistra, the farmers demanded that an EU regulation exempting Ukrainian grain from import duties not be extended to Bulgaria, according to the state-run BTA news agency.
Otherwise, the market prices for cereal and oilseed crops will fall short of production costs, let alone turn a profit, the farmers argue, underlining that many warehouses and silos in the country were full of unsold wheat.
"Every year we produce about 2 million tonnes of sunflowers, of which between 5% and 10% has been sold so far this year. About 4 million tonnes of wheat are sitting in warehouses," said Chair Iliya Prodanov,vice president of the National Grain Producer Association.
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