Ukraine will refrain from exporting wheat, corn, rapeseed and sunflower to Poland until the new season.
The Minister of Agriculture of Poland, Robert Telus, said that Ukraine proposed to temporarily stop the export of grain to Poland. Telyus said this after a meeting with his Ukrainian colleague Mykola Solsky.
According to the minister, the parties decided to make such a decision, because currently, we don’t see much transit of Ukrainian grain through Poland. Instead of going to starving countries, Ukrainian grain is sold on the Polish market. This leads to a sharp drop in purchase prices for Polish grain.
Mykola Solsky, in turn, said that Ministers will continue to be in contact to resolve the issue finally. During the next meeting, they plan to develop procedures regarding export restrictions. They will also discuss the issue of grain transit from Ukraine through Poland.
Mass protests
As reported, Polish farmers have been holding mass protests for the past few months. They emphasized that a significant part of Ukrainian grain didn’t go further by transit, but settled in Poland. Thus, this fact reduced the purchase prices in Poland for the grain of Polish farmers. Under the pressure of farmers, the Polish government appealed to the European Commission to refuse zero duty on Ukrainian agricultural products.
However, the European Commission did not fulfill the main demand of Polish farmers to introduce customs duties on Ukrainian goods. The agreement on duty-free import of goods from Ukraine was extended for another year, until June 5, 2024.