Hungary is bringing back a ban on imports of Ukrainian agricultural products, which was previously temporarily invalidated due to the end of emergency regulations. The new decision should maintain restrictions for Ukrainian goods on the domestic Hungarian market, while the transit of products through the country’s territory may still remain allowed.
According to Hungarian mass media, the preliminary import ban on more than 20 categories of Ukrainian agro-products expired on 14 May after the end of the legal regime on the basis of which it was introduced. The list of restrictions included cereals, oilseeds, flour, poultry meat, eggs and a number of other goods.
Budapest has since announced its intention to reinstate the ban, explaining the decision as a defence of Hungarian farmers and the domestic market. Earlier, Hungarian Agriculture Minister Istvan Nagy repeatedly said that the country would not open the market for Ukrainian agricultural products even after the EU-Ukraine trade agreement was renewed.
Hungary’s position remains part of a wider conflict over Ukrainian agricultural exports to the EU. After the outbreak of a full-scale war, the EU cancelled duties and quotas for Ukrainian goods to support the Ukrainian economy and compensate for problems with maritime logistics. However, EU border countries including Hungary, Poland and Slovakia have claimed pressure from cheap Ukrainian products on local farmers.
The Hungarian ban is not a blanket ban on all Ukrainian exports. It primarily concerns deliveries to the Hungarian domestic market. Transit of Ukrainian products to other EU countries or outside the union was previously preserved, as overland and Danube routes remain an important part of export logistics for Ukraine.
Hungary explains the restrictions by the need to protect farmers from sharp price fluctuations. In 2022, flows of Ukrainian grain and oilseeds to neighbouring countries surged due to the reorientation of exports from the Black Sea to European routes. Reuters noted that before the war Hungary imported up to 50,000 tonnes of grains and oilseeds from Ukraine annually, while in 2022 the volume of such supplies rose to 2.5 million tonnes, and in 2023 before the ban was up to 300,000 tonnes.
The main problematic category for Hungary was maize. According to The Cattle Site, citing customs statistics, Ukraine exported 1.7 million tonnes of corn to Hungary in the year after the outbreak of full-scale war, compared to about 30,000 tonnes before the war.
For Ukraine, the Hungarian decision has political and logistical significance rather than critical trade significance. The main markets for Ukrainian agro-exports to the EU are not in Hungary, but in larger consuming and processing countries. However, for cross-border trade and certain commodity groups, the ban limits exporters’ flexibility and increases dependence on licensing, transit routes and arrangements with the European Commission.
In 2025, the EU has already revised trade terms with Ukraine, increasing quotas for a number of goods: for wheat – from 1 million to 1.3 million tonnes, sugar – from 20,000 to 100,000 tonnes, barley – from 350,000 to 450,000 tonnes, poultry meat – from 90,000 to 120,000 tonnes. These changes were meant to balance support for Ukrainian exports and the interests of EU farmers.