Ukraine seeks to reopen grain transit through Poland as import bans escalate

KIEV (Reuters) – Kiev aims to reopen food and grain transit through Poland as a “first step” to ending an import ban at talks that began in Warsaw on Monday, with countries halting grain entry from Ukraine to protect their domestic agricultural markets. .

A source close to the negotiations said this afternoon that the talks will likely continue until Tuesday.

Poland and Hungary announced bans on some imports from Ukraine on Saturday. On Monday, Slovakia said it would do the same and other countries in central and eastern Europe said they were considering action.

Some Black Sea ports closed after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February last year, and logistical bottlenecks have trapped large quantities of Ukrainian grain – cheaper than those produced in the European Union – in central European countries.

Local farmers say this has lowered prices and lowered their sales. Under pressure from governments to act, it has asked the European Union to respond.

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 ban also comes as a deal to allow millions of tons of Ukrainian grain to be exported through the Black Sea even though the Ukraine war is coming to an end on May 18, and Russian demands have left the prospect of an extension uncertain.

The combined effect of the embargo and failure to agree an extension would cut off millions of tons of grain inside Ukraine, a major agricultural producer that makes a large portion of its GDP from food sales.

“The first step should be, in our opinion, the opening of transit, because it is very important and the thing that must be done unconditionally and then we will talk about other things,” Ukrainian Agriculture Minister Mykola Solsky said before the talks. in Warsaw.

About 10% of the food commodities that Ukraine exports cross the Polish border, Solsky said in comments posted on messaging app Telegram by Ukraine’s Ministry of Agriculture. Deliveries to Hungary accounted for about 6% of Ukrainian agricultural exports.

And data from the Polish Ministry of Agriculture showed that to prevent any grain from entering the Polish market, the Warsaw ban also included transit through the country, which imported 2.45 million tons of grain, or three-quarters of all imports, from Ukraine in 2022.

Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Pawel Jablonski told RMF radio station that “the ultimate aim is not for the import ban to be in effect indefinitely, but to ensure that the grain from Ukraine, which is to be exported, goes (where it is going).”

Joint EU action ‘inevitable’

Potential barriers to Ukraine’s grain trade escalated Monday after Slovakia agreed to halt imports indefinitely in the wake of Poland’s move, though it maintained transit.

The Bulgarian News Agency said that the Bulgarian Minister of Agriculture also said that the country may limit imports.

Istvan Nagy, Hungary’s agriculture minister, said a solution was needed beyond the national level, describing the EU’s eventual action as inevitable. The Czech Republic also urged a comprehensive EU solution, while saying it would not impose a ban itself for now.

The prime ministers of Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia raised the issue in a letter to the European Commission last month. They said tariffs on Ukrainian imports should be considered. The countries also pushed for a procurement mechanism in the EU to buy cheap grain.

A senior EU official said EU envoys would discuss the ban on Poland and Hungary on Wednesday – after the bloc’s executive said on Sunday that unilateral action was unacceptable.

The official said lower global prices and demand meant grain remained in the block rather than being sold.

Ukraine usually exports its agricultural commodities, especially grain, through its Black Sea ports that were lifted last July in line with an agreement between Russia, Turkey, Ukraine and the United Nations when the biggest pressure on governments was to cut prices to tackle and offset inflation. Possible food shortage.

Moscow said last week that the agreement might not be extended unless the West removed barriers to the export of Russian grain and fertilizer. On Monday, Ukraine said the Black Sea grain deal was at risk of being “closed” after Russia blocked inspections of ships participating in Turkish waters.

Reporting by Pavel Politiuk. Writing by Tom Palmforth; Edited by Timothy Heritage

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