Croatian ports welcome Ukrainian grain exports as new trade route opens

During a bilateral meeting with Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković at the summit of the Three Seas initiative in Bucharest, Ukrainian Minister of Economy Yulia Svyrydenko announced that Ukraine has started exporting grain through Croatian seaports.

Rubryka reports, referring to the press service of the Ministry of Economy.

"Ukrainian grain has already been exported through Croatian ports. Thank you for this opportunity. Although this trade route is niche, it is already popular," said Svyrydenko. "We are ready to develop it by expanding the possibilities of the transport corridor. We believe that this logistics route will play an important role in bilateral trade between our countries even after the war." 

The parties discussed bilateral trade, the export of Ukrainian grain through Croatian ports, and a joint solution to export restrictions for Ukrainian exports. Ukraine and Croatia also talked about demining, investigating war crimes, and opening new trade routes to export Ukrainian grain.

The parties discussed starting demining equipment production sooner at the capacities of Ukrainian enterprises and preparations for the demining conference, which will be held in Zagreb in October. This important event should help international partners coordinate efforts to demine Ukraine.

"One of the most important tasks for Ukraine in the near future is the demining of territories and the return to use of potentially contaminated lands," Svyrydenko stressed. "Both the post-war recovery and the further national economic development depend on the speed of this process. We are grateful to all partners who help Ukraine solve this issue."

Andrej Plenković offered to help Ukraine investigate war crimes because Croatia has considerable experience. Croatia proposes exchanging expertise in creating institutes of special prosecutors and police, which conduct investigations into crimes committed during the war.

Background

Ukraine has not exported agricultural products through sea ports after Russia withdrew from the Black Sea Grain Initiative in July 2023. The main routes for food exports have been land transport and seaports on the Danube River.

In May 2023, the European Commission banned the import of wheat, corn, rapeseed, and sunflower from Ukraine to some countries. A number of countries have stated that their domestic agricultural markets were destabilized due to agricultural products from Ukraine, which should have transited to third countries but often remained inside the countries through which the export took place.

Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria, and Slovakia have banned the import of agricultural products originating from or imported from the territory of Ukraine. Romania decided to wait for the actions of the European Commission.

The European Commission called the unilateral actions of EU member states on trade unacceptable because trade policy is the exclusive competence of the EU.

Finally, on April 28, the European Commission reached a compromise with Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and Slovakia regarding the import of agricultural products from Ukraine. On June 5, the European Commission extended the ban until September 15, 2023.