Roughly 3.3 million tons of grains from Ukraine were shipped through the Romanian port of Constanta, at the Black Sea, in the first quarter of this year (Q1), the port authority told Reuters.

In 2022, 8.6 million tons of Ukrainian grain were shipped through Constanta, by train, truck and barges on the Danube River. Overall, the Romanian port handled some 24 million tons of grain exports last year.

To ease the transport of grains amid the war in Ukraine, Romania’s state railroad company CFR has been rehabilitating rail lines in the port. The company told Reuters that, in 2022, it had reopened or rehabilitated 47 cargo and passenger rail lines linking Romania with Ukraine and Moldova.

However, Reuters says, “millions of tones of Ukrainian grains - cheaper than what is produced in the EU - still ended up in neighbouring countries, due to logistical bottlenecks and shorter distances.”

The situation has angered farmers in the region, including Romania, who are dissatisfied with the European Commission’s solutions to the imbalances caused by the influx of grain from Ukraine.

The farmers staged protests in Romania, while the prime ministers of Poland, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, and Slovakia sent a letter to European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen saying that tariffs may need to be reintroduced to protect farmers in the EU.

irina.marica@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: Denys Kovtun/Dreamstime.com)