Poland, Slovakia and Hungary have banned the import of Ukrainian grain and some agricultural products from Ukraine.
Russia’s full-scale invasion significantly affected the export of Ukrainian grain, a key element of Ukraine’s economy. The destruction of traditional supply chains as a result of the conflict led to the fact that more products began to be exported to the western borders of the country, but now this has become a problem. Poland – hosts most of the Ukrainian refugees who fled the war, regularly increases military aid to Ukraine, but now deals a severe blow to the Ukrainian economy by banning the export and even transit of Ukrainian agricultural products through its territory. How did this happen?
Thinking about the election
The Polish government said it decided to ban the import of grain and other agricultural products from Ukraine in order to protect Poland’s agricultural sector. Polish agrarians have long protested against the export of Ukrainian products and now they have achieved their goal.
After Russia launched an invasion of Ukraine and blockaded our country’s Black Sea ports, there are fears that traditional markets that received Ukrainian grain will not find a replacement. This problem is most acute in African countries.
As a result, the EU leadership convinced Poland to act as the main land transshipment hub for Ukrainian grain to deliver food inland through its territory. Grain is also exported through Romania.
However, instead of re-exporting to Egypt and other countries, Polish companies themselves began to buy cheap Ukrainian grain, which lowered the price of this product and caused the anger of local farmers, who hit hard in the first place.
The ruling Law and Justice Party (PiS) traditionally relies on farmers, and on the eve of general elections, the government decided to meet them halfway and adopted a decree banning the import of Ukrainian agricultural products, from from grain to honey. Under the ban, including transit of Ukrainian products.
Polish journalist Igor Isaev said that when Ukrainian grain arrived in Poland a year ago, it began to “melt” in the border regions and very quickly filled local warehouses. As a result, grain producers simply stopped buying it.
“But Ukraine is hardly to blame for this – powerful players on the Polish market have started to do such things. And these players, as it turned out, are close to Law and Justice. This is probably the reason why not the party in power ignored the previous protests of the agrarians – they got their own money here … Law and justice is the only political force in rural Poland, other “urban” parties do not have good successes here, without the village they cannot win the autumn elections. Therefore, Kaczynski came out and announced a complete ban on Ukrainian products, “Isaev explains the logic of the actions of the Polish authorities.
Consequences for Ukraine
The immediate negative consequences of such a move by Poland for the Ukrainian economy are obvious: the ban on imports, as well as on transit, endangers difficult export contracts, makes it necessary to reconsider- As for the plans for the sowing campaign, the logistics are not balanced. supply chain developed with such difficulty, alternative to the sea route, brings a blow to the investment plans for the development of points for the transshipment of bulk agricultural products on the Ukrainian-Polish border, including the participation of European and international financial institutions.
There are also security consequences: the Kremlin will begin to sabotage the “grain corridor” agreements with Ukraine more actively, taking advantage of the “moment”. This is actually happening.
Warsaw’s actions contradict the previously reached agreements, according to which, until July 7, Kyiv should provide wheat, corn, sunflower and rapeseed through Poland only in transit.
“We understand that Polish farmers are in a difficult situation, but we emphasize that Ukrainian farmers are in the most difficult situation,” Ukraine’s Ministry of Agrarian Policy said in a statement. against Ukraine, and Ukrainian farmers are dying in their fields from Russian mines.”
In early April, Ukraine agreed to suspend imports of wheat, corn, rapeseed and sunflower seeds to Poland until the new season.
Chain reaction
Following Poland, Hungary and Slovakia have already announced a ban on the import of Ukrainian products. True, they left the transit for now.
It should be noted that the actions of Ukraine’s western neighbors are contrary to the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the EU, as well as European law.
“It is important to emphasize that trade policy is the exclusive competence of the EU and therefore unilateral action is unacceptable,” the European Commission said in a statement.
“In these difficult times, it is very important to coordinate and integrate all decisions within the EU,” the European Commission said. It has not yet been announced what action he will take.
Source: korrespondent
I am David Wyatt, a professional writer and journalist for Buna Times. I specialize in the world section of news coverage, where I bring to light stories and issues that affect us globally. As a graduate of Journalism, I have always had the passion to spread knowledge through writing.