Hungary has asked the EU to extend restrictions on the import of Ukrainian grain and oil crops for five Eastern European countries at least until the end of 2023.

 This was stated by the State Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture of Hungary, Zolt Feldman, Reuters reports.

 Feldman told state news agency MTI late on Tuesday that Hungary had also asked Brussels to provide financial support to local farmers to facilitate the transportation of grain stocks stuck in internal storage before this year's harvest.

 "We are interested in the fact that the harvest in Hungary was harvested safely, and Hungarian farmers were able to sell their products," said Feldman after a meeting of EU agriculture ministers in Brussels.

 On May 2, the EU imposed restrictions on the import of Ukrainian wheat, corn, rapeseed and sunflower until June 5 in order to reduce the oversupply of cereals in Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia.

 These countries complained that cheaper Ukrainian grain makes domestic production unprofitable.

 The European Commission stated that during this period, Ukrainian wheat, corn, rapeseed and sunflower can be sold to any other EU country.

 The EU previously liberalized all imports from Ukraine to help the Ukrainian economy amid a full-scale Russian invasion. These five countries became transit routes for Ukrainian grain, which could not be exported through the Black Sea ports because of the war.