The transit of cereals and other agricultural products through Poland, suspended by Warsaw for almost a week, officially resumed this Friday, April 21, the government also announcing significant aid to farmers.
Why Poland, Hungary and Slovakia Ban Ukrainian Grain Imports
Poland and other European Union countries bordering Ukraine have imposed temporary bans on Ukrainian grain imports following farmers’ protests over collapsing prices linked to their influx.
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Ukrainian grain destined for foreign countries transits through the European Union since the traditional export route via the Black Sea was blocked by the Russian invasion.
Transit through Poland of several foodstuffs, including sugar, meat, fruit and vegetables, was allowed from 2 a.m., after government regulations came into force. However, Ukrainian exporters cannot sell these products on the Polish market.
“We assume that the checks will be quite smooth, so far there are no signs (showing) that queues will form”Bartosz Zbaraszczuk, the head of the Polish customs agency, told RMF24 radio on Friday.
The first convoy included five trucks transporting meat, eggs and corn to the Netherlands.
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Four million tonnes of Ukrainian grain stored
Poland on April 15 banned the entry of dozens of Ukrainian foodstuffs, mainly cereals, in response to protests by farmers. The decision was taken without consulting either Ukraine or the European Commission, provoking criticism both in Kyiv and Brussels.
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Since the start of the war in Ukraine, grain stocks have accumulated in Poland, driving down local prices, leading to protests and the resignation of Poland’s previous agriculture minister.
Around four million tonnes of Ukrainian grain are currently stored in Poland. Hungary, Slovakia and Bulgaria subsequently also imposed similar interim bans.
Convoys tracked by GPS and escorted
On Tuesday, Warsaw and Kiev announced an agreement to allow transit through Poland, under strict control, with in particular the installation of electronic seals equipped with GPS trackers on the convoys which will also be escorted, for a week, by Polish customs officers. A vehicle transporting such products cannot “out of our field of vision only when it enters a port (…) or when it leaves the Polish border”and déclaré Bartosz Zbaraszczuk.
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Farmers meanwhile remain skeptical of the measures taken by the Polish government. “It will not solve the situation on our farms and warehouses” because Ukrainian grain sent to Polish ports will be “in competition with our products”told the press Wieslaw Burzynski, of the agricultural chamber of the region of Pomerania (north).
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In an attempt to calm farmers’ anger, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki announced on Friday aid totaling ten billion zlotys (2.17 billion euros) from the state budget, which includes subsidies for the sale of cereals.
“We use our own resources from the Polish state budget but the agreement has to come from the European Commission – so that a European official does not knock on the door of a farmer to demand the reimbursement of this payment that we have performed”he added.
Measurements on other products?
The populist government in Warsaw criticizes Brussels for reacting too late to the influx of Ukrainian cereals.
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Also on Friday, the Polish, Romanian, Bulgarian, Slovak and Hungarian Agriculture Ministers delivered a letter to the European Commission, asking in particular that the transit measures also apply to products other than cereals, according to a press release from the Polish Ministry.
The five countries also underlined that they were not “agree with the situation in which all the weight of managing the increase in imports rests only with a few EU member countries” and called for speeding up the preparation of new aid to these countries.
