Poland Builds a Record Grain Stash to Safeguard Food Supplies

Poland has expanded its grain stockpile to a record, in a bid to bolster food security if extreme weather or geopolitical events stifle supplies.

The state reserves agency — which doesn’t disclose the exact size and location of the inventories — has had a buffer stock for decades. That’s even as the country is a net exporter of grains and has ample supplies for now, especially after cross-border flows from Ukraine rose as Russia’s invasion made it harder for Kyiv to export by sea.

“Poland has maintained strategic food stocks, including grain, for as long as I can remember,” Agnieszka Bogucka, a director at the Poland’s Strategic Reserves Agency, said in an interview last week. “But we have never had such large strategic grain reserves as we do today.”

The hoard underscores multiple threats to food security, from bad weather damaging harvests to supply chain snarls caused by war or pandemics. It’s also another example of government efforts to prepare for potential crises. For example, Norway is building stockpiles of grain, Finland has stored it for decades, and Sweden plans to rebuild reserves along with seeds and fertilizers.

Bogucka said Poland has been gradually adding to its stockpile since 2010, mostly in case there’s a severe drought or flood. One of the rare occasions when it had to tap supplies was in 1997, when floods killed more than 50 people and caused billions of dollars of damage.

Still, Bogucka cautioned that the agency could struggle to make some key products available during extreme events such as a major snowstorm, and said households should also ensure that they have adequate supplies of essentials.

Grain prices have in the past soared rapidly during crises. They surged in the early stages of the war in Ukraine as Russia blocked Black Sea ports, forcing Ukraine to use more costly river, rail and road routes via the European Union.

The Polish agency’s current plan, which covers the 2022-26 period, was designed before the invasion of Ukraine and was driven more by lessons learned from droughts, floods and the Covid pandemic, said the agency’s head, Jan Rajchel. The war will be one factor that may be considered in an updated plan, he said.

“Due to the war in Ukraine or intensifying weather phenomena related to climate change, the issue of food security has become more important recently,” Rajchel sai

Tags: wheat, stocks, grain, Poland