Domestic agricultural producers and importing companies urge the authorities to facilitate the unblocking of the import of fertilizers from Ukraine's trading partners: Poland, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Bulgaria, Uzbekistan, Georgia, Turkey, and Lithuania.

The Ukrainian Agri Council (UAC) and other members of the Ukrainian Agri Foru, the Union of Poultry Breeders of Ukraine, as well as the Union of Agrochemists of Ukraine, sent an official appeal to the President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko, Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman and the heads of all parliamentary factions with a request to immediately intervene in the situation and promote the restoration of imports of mineral fertilizers into Ukraine.

Representatives of these associations reported this at a press conference in Interfax-Ukraine, Friday, December 21.

Thus, as of December 20 more than 45 thousand tons of mineral fertilizers were detained at the Ukrainian border according to data from leading agrarian associations and companies that import mineral fertilizers to Ukraine. In total, 53% of the average monthly import of nitrogen fertilizers has already been blocked.

The reason for the blocking of imports was the letter of the Director of the department of counteraction to customs offenses DFS. The train to the territorial authorities DFS, which stated the requirement to provide increased control during the import of mineral fertilizers.

"I consider this a sabotage on the part of the Customs Service, although in fact it should protect the interests of Ukraine. Lithuanian fertilizers are on the customs. Is there a better EU partner than Lithuania? Can someone say that Russian fertilizers will be imported through Lithuania? I'm sure everyone understands - they will not. The same goes for Turkish fertilizer vessels, which are also blocked as of today", - said the head of the UAC Andriy Dykun.

Experts point out that further blockage of mineral fertilizer imports and downtime accruing to the bankruptcy of most Ukrainian importing companies will lead to a sharp rise in the deficit of mineral fertilizers, an increase in their prices for the end consumer and, consequently, to increase the cost price of cultivated products and the losses of farmers. All this will lead to a reduction in the competitiveness of agricultural producers and reduce their costs, including wages for employees, rent for felling, and the introduction of fertilizers, which in turn will lead to a significant reduction in yields and deterioration of soil conditions.

They buy mineral fertilizers from Dmitry Firtash Ostchem companies and sell them at significantly higher prices than Ukrainian importers of these products.

"Agrarian Fund" is a stabilizer all over the world. When fertilizer prices go up, the fund sells fertilizers. When fertilizer prices go down - they buy fertilizers to stabilize the market. What do we have today? The agrarian fund wants to sell fertilizers on space prices", - added Andriy Dykun.

A presentation of the press conference with a detailed analysis of the situation is available at the following link: https://app.box.com/s/kkrq9picw78xd636jwo1vmawpt04hzbt

Recall that on December 20, the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Agrarian Policy and Land Relations, in response to the appeal of the Ukrainian Agri Council and other agrarian associations, called upon Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman, acting Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food Maxim Martynyuk and acting Head of the State Fiscal Service Oleksandr Vlasov to help unblock the import of mineral fertilizers to Ukraine.