Blitz Expert Gennadiy Novikov on the border blockade

20 February 09:10

It is profitable for grain processors in Poland to buy Ukrainian grain because it is of higher quality and cheaper, while farmers are on strike because they are not used to competition. This was stated by Gennadiy Novikov, Chairman of the Agrarian Union of Ukraine , said in a blitz interview.

ThePrime Minister of Hungary demands not to allow Ukrainian agricultural products to enter the EU market, pleasecomment.

Everything is obvious here. Especially coming from Orban, it’s nothing new at all. The Poles surprise, but Orban does not. There is neither economics nor common sense – there is nothing here but politics. After all, if you look at Poland and its budget, in terms of the economy, Ukrainian grain is only a plus. More revenues – and they are fixed. In other words, Poland benefits from the fact that our cheaper grain is processed in Poland. It’s like when we banned the export of round timber, and the EU was all over us to allow it. We built wood processing plants on the borders, processed the wood, and returned it to us in the form of furniture.

And now why has the situation changed? Why are they blocking us if it is beneficial to them?

The fact is that Polish farmers are not used to competition. At the state level, no one wants to talk in numbers: what price do Polish farmers sell their grain at? If they compared it to the price Ukrainian farmers receive, everything would fall into place. But Polish, Hungarian, and French farmers are simply jealous of Ukrainian farmers.

So they benefit from us supplying them with products from an economic point of view? At the level of the state and budget revenues? But it is not beneficial for their farmers, they are afraid of competition?

Yes, that’s right, it is beneficial for the state. But farmers go on strike because they are not used to competition. I mean, not at all. The small-scale farming model has been imposed on Ukraine all along, and now it is demonstrating its viability. We haven’t even started competing with them yet – and they are already afraid. Both Poles and Hungarians. There, farmers take out loans at 1-1.5% for 10 years, while ours are at 5-7-9%, and now they are at 13% per year, maybe for two, if for three, it’s already a wow.

What losses have we suffered because of the actions of the Poles? And what losses are we suffering because of the Hungarians?

It’s not so difficult to calculate. Let’s take 2021, when our grain, let’s say wheat, cost UAH 8200-8400 per tonne. At domestic elevators. In 2022, the price was UAH 6,600 per tonne. It should be noted that in 2021, the hryvnia was 25 to the dollar, and then it became 40. That is, in dollar terms, these are incomparable things: it was more than $200, and now it’s $150-160.
In April 2023, the Poles began to block the supply. In 2023, the price of wheat was 3800-4000-4200 UAH per tonne at harvest.

Now, on New Year’s Eve, it has risen to 5000. In 2022, it was 6600. That is, it has fallen further. At this time, let’s say in 2022, when we first transported grain through the land corridors, the price of grain in the ports of the Poles was 300 euros per tonne, and then the price dropped to 270 euros. At that time, ours was 135 dollars, which is more than half as much – because there are euros and dollars here, and they still have the conscience to say something.

The short memory is simple: when Poland joined the EU, it ate as much money in the EU as any other country. People just have neither memory nor conscience.

The author: Iryna Shevchenko

Дзвенислава Карплюк
Editor