Slovakia lifts import ban on Ukrainian agricultural products

Slovakia has lifted its unilateral import ban on grain and other agricultural products from Ukraine imposed in April, the Economy Ministry announced in Bratislava on Friday evening.
Following a decision taken at the government meeting on Friday, Economy Minister Karel Hirman signed the corresponding order on the same day, thus lifting the ban with immediate effect.
The decision to lift the import ban was taken at the last meeting of Prime Minister Eduard Heger's conservative-populist minority Cabinet.
On Monday, President Zuzana Čaputová plans to appoint a government made up of civil servants in his place. Heger's government lost a vote of no confidence in parliament in December and since then has been governing as acting prime minister.
On April 17, Slovakia had imposed a temporary import ban on a whole range of agricultural products from Ukraine to protect its own agriculture.
The list included sugar, dried animal feed, seeds, hops, linen and hemp, fruit and vegetables in both raw and processed form, wine and other alcoholic products, and honey. However, the transit of these products to other countries remained permitted.
Other EU states bordering Ukraine also blocked the import of a number of Ukrainian agricultural products. Farmers had complained about massive Ukrainian competition after import duties were lifted.
Separately from the import ban, the Ministry of Agriculture in Bratislava had already ordered a sales ban on a delivery of 1,500 tons of Ukrainian wheat on April 14 because pesticides had been detected in it.