The Polish authorities have decided to ban imports of grain and a number of other food products from Ukraine in order to protect their own agricultural sector.
Source. This was reported by the BBC.
"Today, the government has made a decision that prohibits the import of grain and dozens of other food products to Poland, all of which are listed in the annex to the resolution," said Jaroslaw Kaczynski, head of the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party, to thunderous applause at the party congress.
The politician emphasized that Poland remains an unwavering friend and ally of Ukraine and will continue to fully support it, but the leadership of each state primarily protects the interests of its citizens.
Earlier, the EU leadership convinced Poland to act as the main land transshipment hub for Ukrainian grain in order to deliver food by land through its territory. Grain is also exported through Romania.
However, instead of re-exporting to Egypt and other countries, Polish companies began to buy cheap Ukrainian grain themselves, which brought down the price of this commodity and angered local farmers whose products were left unclaimed.
The Law and Justice party (PiS) traditionally relies on farmers. Therefore, on the eve of the general election, the government decided to meet them halfway and passed a resolution banning imports of Ukrainian agricultural products, from grain to honey.
Kaczynski also said that Poland has already informed Kyiv of its decision to ban imports of Ukrainian food products, but is ready to sit down with its Ukrainian counterparts to discuss the grain issue at any time.
According to Ukrinform, on Saturday, Ukrainian Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food Mykola Solsky said that 500-700 thousand tons of various agricultural products, including grain, oil, sugar, eggs, meat and other products, are supplied from Ukraine to Poland every month.
However, a significant part of this volume is in transit to other countries, the minister noted. According to Solsky, about 150-200 thousand tons of Ukrainian agricultural products were sold directly in Poland.
Background. As a reminder, Poland announced that it would suspend imports of Ukrainian grain at least until July.