Amid a partial blockade of farmers on the Polish-Lithuanian border over Ukrainian grain, Lithuanian farmers say they are more concerned about Russian grain imports.
This, as “European Truth” writes, is stated in the publication LRT.
Since Friday, Polish farmers have been partially blocking the main highway at the former border checkpoint between Poland and Lithuania and checking trucks, citing concerns that some Ukrainian grain imported into Lithuania is being returned to Poland.
However, Lithuanian grain farmers say that their biggest problem is not Ukrainian, but Russian grain, which ends up in the EU in huge quantities.
“These are impressive figures: more than 3 million tons of Russian grain passed through Latvia and Lithuania together in 2023. In total, 12 million tons of Russian grain were imported into the EU market last year,” said Aušris Maciyauskas, chairman of the Lithuanian Grain Producers Association.
According to him, Russian grain is reducing prices throughout the EU: the Russians are deliberately dumping in order to create chaos in the agricultural sector. But the European Commission has the tools to put an end to this.
“There is a regulation that allows the EU to intervene in the market in emergency situations and start buying food products whose prices are falling sharply,” Maciyauskas said.
According to grain processors, about 50 thousand tons of Ukrainian grain were imported to Lithuania last year, which is much less than in the pre-war period. Processors, as well as grain producers, emphasize that the real problem is Russian grain.
The Latvian parliament has temporarily banned the import of agricultural products from Russia and Belarus until at least July 2025. But even this step has changed little, processors say.
Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda said yesterday that supports proposals for a ban import of Russian grain.
Earlier, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk promised to appeal to the Polish Sejm about imposing sanctions against the Russian and Belarusian agricultural products.
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2024-03-05 06:57:49
