A new European Commission directive is set to extend the ban on European countries’ imports of Ukrainian agricultural products, but it will apply to a smaller number of products.

A source in the Ukrainian government told European Pravda that durum wheat, hybrid corn varieties, spelt and seed will be excluded from the ban.

According to the source, the European Commission may officially share the new directive by the end of Monday, 5 June.

On 2 May, the EU imposed restrictions on imports of Ukrainian wheat, corn, rapeseed and sunflower until 5 June to reduce the oversupply of grain in Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia. These countries have complained that cheaper Ukrainian grain makes domestic production unprofitable.

During that period, Ukrainian wheat, corn, rapeseed, and sunflower could still be sold to any other EU country.

Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia have demanded that the European Commission extend the ban until at least the end of 2023, and the Commission itself indicated that it might do so.

On 5 June, Polish Agriculture Minister Robert Telus said that he had received a draft of the European Commission resolution to extend the ban on Ukrainian grain imports until 15 September. Sources in the Ukrainian government have confirmed this.

The restrictions have already hit Ukrainian exports. For example, in April, Ukraine lost US$700 million in food exports compared to the previous month.