Ukraine will suspend grain exports to Poland amid protests

Ukraine is ready to reduce and even temporarily stop the export of its grain to Poland. This was agreed upon by the Ministers of Agriculture of Poland and Ukraine Robert Telus and Mykola Solsky at a meeting on Friday. Poland will remain for Kyiv only through grain transit. Earlier, dumping prices for Ukrainian agricultural products led to protests by Polish farmers and the resignation of the previous Minister of Agriculture.

At the meeting held at the border crossing in Dorohusk, the ministers discussed control over the export of grain from Ukraine to Poland. According to Mykola Solsky, the Ukrainian side will refrain from exporting wheat, corn, rapeseed and sunflower seeds to Poland until the new season. Robert Telus reported that he discussed the current situation with the Prime Minister of Poland, Mateusz Morawiecki. They decided to create a task force. Telus believes that Poland needs to unload its grain warehouses and export its grain before the start of the new harvest. He thanked the Ukrainian side for cooperation in this matter.

Robert Telus took the post of Minister of Agriculture two days ago. On March 5, the previous minister, Henrik Kovalchyk, resigned due to farmers’ protests against the import of Ukrainian grain and other agricultural products into Poland.

In May 2022, the European Union temporarily canceled import duties and quotas on the import of products from Ukraine as a measure to support the economy of the warring country. This caused dissatisfaction among farmers of countries bordering Ukraine, including Poland. Due to the lack of duties, the influx of cheap Ukrainian production has led to a decrease in the competitiveness of their own production.

• Initially, it was assumed that the main part of Ukraine’s grain export through Poland and other bordering countries would be sent to further consumers, including countries in Asia and Africa. However, in fact, a large amount of Ukrainian production settled in Poland, as well as Hungary and Romania, creating competition for local producers.
• On March 31, the governments of Poland, Slovakia, Romania, Hungary and Bulgaria appealed to the European Commission with a request to return quotas and duties on Ukrainian agricultural products. They emphasized that such a measure is necessary to protect the interests of their own agriculture. However, the European Commission published a project to extend the duty-free and quota-free import of grain from Ukraine for another hour, from June 2023 to June 5, 2024.