Poland on Friday resumed transit shipments of Ukrainian grain and other food through its territory, partially lifting a nearly week-long ban imposed in response to protests from farmers.
Poland and other EU countries bordering Ukraine imposed temporary bans on Ukrainian grain imports after farmers said that they were causing domestic prices to slump.
Ukraine stepped up exports of agricultural and food products through EU nations after Russia’s invasion disrupted its usual Black Sea shipping route.
Photo: AFP
Polish authorities on Friday said the transit of dozens of Ukrainian food items — including sugar, meat, fruits and vegetables — is now permitted, but these products cannot be sold on the country’s market.
Poland on Saturday last week banned the entry of dozens of food items from the war-torn country, and Hungary, Slovakia and Bulgaria followed suit with similar moves.
However, Warsaw and Kyiv announced a deal on Tuesday to allow the resumption of their transit through Poland, under strict checks and controls, involving placing electronic seals on the transports.
Polish customs officers are to escort the vehicles carrying exports for a week.
“We will let such a transport out of our sight only when it enters the port to be loaded, for example grain onto a ship, or leaves the Polish border,” Bartosz Zbaraszczuk, head of the Polish customs agency, told RMF24 radio.
However, protesting farmers said that letting the transit flow might do further harm to Polish exporters.
“This will not relieve the situation on our farms, in our warehouses, because grain and Ukrainian products will enter into competition with our products,” Wieslaw Burzynski from the Pomeranian Chamber of Agriculture told reporters on Friday.
In a bid to placate the farmers, the Polish government on Friday announced a fresh batch of farming subsidies worth 10 billion zloty (US$2.38 billion) and urged the EU to approve the measures.
“The authorization must come from the European Commission so that a European clerk does not knock on the farmer’s door somewhere and demand the return of the payment,” Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki told a news conference.
The populist right-wing government in Warsaw has accused the EU of failing to help farmers, but Brussels accused the Polish government of imposing the import ban unilaterally, without consulting Kyiv or the EU.
Other commodities:
‧?Gold for June delivery fell US$28.60 to US$1,990.50 an ounce, down 1.26 percent from a week earlier.
‧?Silver for May delivery fell US$0.31 to US$25.06 an ounce, down 1.57 percent weekly, while May copper fell US0.05 to US$3.98 a pound, posting a weekly decline of 3.16 percent.
Additional reporting by AP
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