Bulgaria to receive EU support for Ukrainian grain producers

Bulgaria will receive 16 million euros from the European Commission before harvest to compensate grain producers for their production left in storage because of Ukrainian grain duty-free dumping. This is what Agriculture Minister Yavor Gechev said to protesting farmers in the village of Gorna Studena.

The country has 1.313 million tons of sunflowers -- 420,000 tons more than in 2022, according to Gechev. There are 660,000 tons more wheat and 89,000 tons more corn. Bulgaria is more susceptible to Ukrainian grain imports than other EU countries, according to the minister. He said that we are a country in solidarity with Ukraine but Bulgarian producers can't sell wheat at 21 euro cents per kilo and sunflowers at 40 euro cents, which is below the cost price. The Commission presented its support measure to the Ministers of Agriculture yesterday, worth €56,3 million. The financial aid will be distributed to the three Member States who will distribute it to farmers as soon as possible. The Commission proposes to allocate €29,5 million to Poland, €16,75 to Bulgaria and €10,05 million to Romania. The EU support can be up to 100% with national funds, which would amount to a total financial aid of €112,6 million for affected farmers. The Commission would expect payments to be made to farmers by September 30th, 2023.