Economy

Poland has already imposed a grain embargo on Ukraine

As it turned out, Ukrainian grain is not currently exported to Poland at all, and “Polish farmers” are trying to prevent its importation to the entire European Union with their protests. This was stated by Deputy Minister of Agriculture of Poland Michal Kolodziejczak, reports with reference to pap.

The official said that last week he had repeatedly checked the information about the unloading of Polish grain in Poland, but it had never been confirmed. All Ukrainian grain in Poland is only in transit. As it turned out, Poland has already imposed an embargo on Ukrainian grain.

“Neither wheat, nor corn, nor rapeseed. These products do not stay here… I didn’t want to tell anyone, but Poland has imposed an embargo on products from Ukraine, on those that we are concerned about,”

– said the deputy minister.

But he is not satisfied with even transit. As it turned out, the Poles are now concerned that Ukrainians are taking away their German market. So he hinted to the “Polish farmers” what else could be done.

“If I were to protest today, I would block the second border [with Germany – ed.] We also see protests in Germany and hear the voices of German farmers who also do not want these products from Ukraine. They buy a lot of Polish goods there, but the government has not imposed an embargo on these [Ukrainian] products. Therefore, this market was taken away from us by Ukrainian products,”

– kolodziejczak said.

Polish Minister of Development and Technology Krzysztof Hetman, in turn, said that Poland could impose an embargo on all Ukrainian agricultural products.

Border blockade

on 9 February 2024, Polish farmers launched a new nationwide strike and blockade of the border with Ukraine, which will last until 10 March. It was initiated by the independent farmers’ trade union Solidarity. Starting from 12 February, they plan to block all checkpoints. The main demand of the protesters is to cancel the preferential trade regime with Ukraine and return the permit system for importing goods into Poland.

Problems at the border began on 6 November 2023, when Polish transport companies began blocking truck traffic at three major checkpoints on the Ukrainian border: “Korczowa-Krakowiec, Hrebenne-Rava-Ruska, and Dorohusk-Yagodyn. One of the requirements was to reinstate the permits for Ukrainian carriers that had been cancelled under the agreement with the EU by 30 June 2024.

On6 January, truck traffic to the Medyka-Shehyni border crossingin Poland resumed. Three other border crossing points were opened on 17 January, namely Dorohusk – Yagodyn, Hrebenne – Rava-Ruska, and Korczowa – Krakivets.

In Romania, on 13 and 14 January, local farmers blocked the movement of Ukrainian trucks through the Siret checkpoint, and on 15 January, they began blocking the Vicovu de Sus checkpoint. on 18 January, Romanian farmers began blocking the Dyakove-Halmeu checkpoint. However, as of 20 January, these checkpoints were reopened.

The preferential trade regime and its opponents

Many EU members did not like the quota-free imports of Ukrainian products to the EU, which was in effect in 2022-2023. In particular, a number of Eastern European countries demanded that the EU impose import duties on Ukrainian goods, citing unfair competition. The ministers of agriculture of Bulgaria, Poland, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia sent a letter to the European Commission asking for action, stating that cheaper agricultural products from Ukraine were eating into their export markets.

The Ukrainian side tried to reach an agreement with the ‘problematic’ countries.” In particular, on 26 January, the Cabinet of Ministers adopted a resolution that improves the rules for exporting certain types of agricultural products. According to the resolution, a company may be excluded from the list of verified agricultural entities if it violates these rules.

At the end of January 2024, the European Commission effectively reintroduced quotas for some Ukrainian goods. It extended the special preferential regime with Ukraine for a year, but set special conditions and safeguards for some goods.

In particular, in order to “stabilise imports at the level of average volumes in 2022-2023”, the EU has come up with an “emergency braking” mechanism for three products: poultry, eggs and sugar.

In practice, this means setting a quota at the level of the average export volume in 2022-2023, exceeding which will automatically result in an import tariff being applied to the products.

This decision must then be approved by the European Parliament and the Council of the EU.

Thus, the EC’s decision virtually reintroduces quotas for some Ukrainian products, even if at the average level of Ukrainian exports. However, even this compromise solution does not suit the Polish farmers’ union.

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