02.04.2023
Ukraine’s grain sales and farmers’ livelihoods have been hit by exports of cheap grain through countries such as Poland and Romania after Black Sea ports were blocked by the Russo-Ukrainian war. Polish government officials have asked the European Union to restrict or prevent Ukrainian grain imports into Poland through regulatory means.
(Deutsche Welle Chinese website) Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said on Wednesday (March 30) that the country wants the European Union to use all tools at its disposal to limit the amount of Ukrainian grain entering the EU market. Polish farmers are unhappy that low grain prices from Ukraine have pushed down Polish grain prices.
In Poland’s parliamentary elections this autumn, anger from farmers has left the ruling Law and Justice party (PiS) in a dilemma because its main supporters are those living in rural areas and small towns.
Morawiecki appealed at a news conference: “We demand the use of all regulatory measures – such as quotas, tariffs, to limit or prevent the import of Ukrainian grain into Poland.” He said that several countries that have bordered Ukraine The leaders agreed to write to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen demanding action.
Polish, Romanian farmers affected
Ukraine is one of the world’s largest grain exportersUkraine has had to find alternative shipping routes through EU members Poland and Romania since its Black Sea ports were blocked last year by the Russian-Ukrainian war. Due to a large amount of grain being stranded due to logistical bottlenecks, Ukraine exported grain at low prices, which eventually led to severe losses in grain sales and farmers’ livelihoods in Poland and Romania, both grain exporting countries. Earlier this month, Romanian Agriculture Minister Petre Daea said the European Commission estimated that farmers in Poland, Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria and Slovakia had collectively lost around 415 million euros from cheap Ukrainian grains entering their markets.
Michal Kolodziejczak, founder of Agrounia, a Polish agricultural initiative, emphasized: “Every hectare of food must be compensated. The government must spend at least 6 billion zlotys (Polish currency, about 1.28 billion euros) to make up for it. Loss.” On Monday, the European Commission announced that it would provide Poland with 126 million euros in aid to support the Polish food production sector hit by the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, but Koloziak’s figure was higher than the aid plan approved by the European Commission 10 times. For representatives of Polish farmers’ groups, the aid proposed by the Polish government and the European Union so far is still not satisfactory.
Shipping inventory to Africa, Middle East
Poland will ask the European Commission to adopt protection clauses for grain imported into Poland from Ukraine, Agriculture Minister Henryk Kowalczyk said after a meeting with farmer representatives on Wednesday. The current legislation to lift all import restrictions “contains a provision that can be introduced in case of market disruption,” he said, while mentioning that Slovakia, Romania, Hungary and Bulgaria would be encouraged to adopt similar measures.
Kovacic pointed out that an additional compensation of 520 million zlotys is on the way, half of which comes from the EU’s crisis provisions and the other half from the state budget, so that the total aid to Polish farmers is 1.12 billion zlotys (about 240 million zlotys). billion euros). In addition, Polish Prime Minister Morawiecki also stated that Kovacic had been instructed to transport the grain accumulated in Poland to Africa or the Middle East “to limit the impact of Ukrainian grain on our country”.
The European Commission intends to distribute a total of 56.3 million euros in compensation to farmers in Poland, Bulgaria and Romania, with a final decision expected on March 30.
(Reuters, etc.)
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