Poland to ban Ukrainian grain imports from 15 September but aid transit

However, Telus told the country’s Independent Self-Governing Trade Union of Individual Farmers and the National Union of Farmers at a meeting in Warsaw on 3 August that Ukrainian grain would still be allowed to transit through Poland.

“We will do everything to help Ukraine in the transit of grains from Ukraine, but grain will not be able to enter Poland,” Telus was quoted as saying in the 4 August report.

The announcement followed a European Commission (EC) statement on 25 July saying the bloc would wait for the outcome of the current harvest before deciding on an appeal made by five member states to extend a temporary import ban on Ukrainian agricultural products beyond the 15 September end date, the report said.

In May, the EC had agreed to impose a ban on Ukrainian imports of wheat, corn, rapeseed, and sunflower into Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and Slovakia until 15 September, AgriCensus wrote.

Over the last four months, Poland had exported more than 4.5M tonnes of cereal, easing some fears about mounting stock levels due to a backlog of grain from last year’s harvest built up in farmers’ warehouses, the report said.

“In January 299,000 tonnes [was exported], in February 539,000 tonnes, in March 628,000 tonnes, in April 704,000 tonnes, in May 882,000 tonnes and in June almost 940,000 tonnes,” Telus added.

Meanwhile, transit volumes of grain from Ukraine had also increased from 114,000 tonnes in February to 262,000 tonnes in June, he said.

In addition, Telus proposed facilitating the transportation of Ukrainian cereals to seaports in Lithuania and Latvia saying these ports should also be used to export Polish grain, according to the report.

Tags: transit, Ukraine, Slovakia, Bulgaria, cereal, corn, sunflower, grain, Poland, wheat, rapeseed, imports, Hungary