Ukraine seeks re-opening of grain transit via Poland as import bans mount
Kyiv aims to re-open food and grain transit via Poland as "a first step" to ending import bans at talks that began in Warsaw on Monday as countries halted grain from Ukraine to protect their local agriculture markets.
The talks were likely to continue into Tuesday, a source close to the negotiations said in the afternoon.
Poland and Hungary announced bans on some imports from Ukraine on Saturday.
Some Black Sea ports were blocked after Russia's invasion of Ukraine began in February last year and logistical bottlenecks trapped large quantities of Ukrainian grain - cheaper than that produced in the European Union - in Central European countries.
Local farmers say this has lowered prices and reduced their sales. Governments, under pressure to act, have asked the European Union for a response.
In Poland, the issue has created a problem in an election year for the ruling nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) party that relies on rural areas for a high level of support.
The export and transit bans also come as a deal to allow the export of millions of tonnes of Ukrainian grain via the Black Sea despite the Ukraine war nearing its May 18 expiry and Russian demands have left the prospect of an extension uncertain.
The combined impact of the bans and failure to agree on an extension would strand millions of tonnes of grain inside Ukraine, a major agricultural producer that makes a substantial part of its gross domestic product from food sales.
About 10% of the food goods Ukraine exports cross the Polish border, Ukrainian Agriculture Minister Mykola Solsky said in comments published on the Telegram messaging app by the Ukraine Agriculture Ministry. Deliveries to Hungary accounted for around 6% of Ukraine's farm exports.
To prevent any grain from entering the Polish market, Warsaw's ban also covered transit through the country, which imported 2.45 million tonnes of grain, or three-quarters of total imports, from Ukraine in 2022, Polish Agriculture Ministry data showed.
"The ultimate goal is not that the import ban will be in force indefinitely, but to ensure that grain from Ukraine, which is to be exported, goes (where it is headed)," Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Pawel Jablonski told radio station RMF.
Poland says Ukraine needs help, but the cost of the help should be spread over all European countries.
"We are not against transit but as Poland, we must have a 100 % guarantee that the products that have destabilized our market, in particular the agricultural market, will not be left behind in Poland," Polish Agriculture Minister Robert Telus said during a news conference on the Polish-Ukrainian border in Dorohusk where he went after talks with the Ukrainian side.
Slovakia approves ban on some Ukraine farm products, maintains transit
Slovakia's government banned the import of grains and other farm products from Ukraine on Monday, but will keep borders open for transit to third markets, Agriculture Minister Samuel Vlcan said on Monday.
Vlcan told a televised news conference restrictive measures to ban grain imports imposed by Poland at the weekend had led to the Slovak ban.
"It is a measure for the protection of the Slovak agro-food sector and mainly the health of the consumer," he said.
Slovakia banned the distribution of a batch of Ukrainian grain last week after it detected higher-than-allowed levels of pesticides in the shipment.
Vlcan did not present the full list of farm products and food, but a proposal for Monday's cabinet meeting included wheat, rye, barley, oats, corn, sugar beet and sugar, wine, fruits and vegetables, sunflower seeds, rapeseed, honey, and others.
The government said it would continue to allow transit of Ukrainian grains and other products under an EU initiative to help Ukraine export its production despite the Russian invasion, he said.
Vlcan said Slovakia was pushing for the creation of a European mechanism to buy Ukrainian products in Ukraine and ship them outside the European Union.
Ukrainian lorry drivers wait in long queues at the Polish border after the food and grain ban
Ukrainian lorry drivers waited in a line of dozens of kilometres at the Polish border on Monday as Kyiv aims to re-open food and grain transit via Poland as "a first step" to ending import bans.
Alkis Ananikov, a lorry driver from Dnipro carrying rapeseed, told Reuters he'd been waiting at the same spot for two days.
"Four days of difficulties, it all started some 15 kilometres from here. I'm stuck in this exact place for two days."
His colleague from Zhytomyr, Mykola Bervin, estimated the queue to be 25 kilometres long (15 miles).
"Yes, the Poles reached their hand for ours, I'm very thankful to them... But now, Poland doesn't let (us) in for some reason, there is some kind of situation here. We don't know to what this is related," Bervin said.
Reuters
