Poland to maintain ban on imports of Ukrainian grain until new EU rules are implemented

The ban on imports of Ukrainian grain to Poland will remain in place until new rules are developed at the EU level. This was stated by the Minister of Agriculture of Poland Czeslaw Sekerski.

“We must maintain the embargo until the conditions that will replace it are agreed upon. I believe that a good solution would be to introduce licensing of transport using transit routes outside of Poland,” the Minister said.

Sekersky also spoke about the restriction of incoming grain, noting that Ukrainian grain exports should go through a different route than European or Polish ones.

“Because there is always a certain risk, even during transit, that some grain and other agricultural products will remain in Poland,” explained the head of the Polish Ministry of Agriculture.

As a reminder, on September 15, 2023, the European Commission announced that it would not extend the restrictions on imports of agricultural products from Ukraine to five neighboring EU countries (Poland, Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania, and Slovakia) under certain conditions that will help avoid a new sharp increase in supplies. The restrictions were introduced on May 2, 2023, and applied to imports of wheat, rapeseed, sunflower, and corn. These five Eastern European EU member states argued that Ukrainian agricultural products, when imported duty-free into the EU, were being deposited in their countries and were harming their local agricultural sectors.

After the restrictions were lifted, Poland, Hungary, and Slovakia introduced unilateral bans. Poland expanded the list of banned products to include rapeseed cake and meal, as well as corn bran, wheat flour, and derivatives. Hungary extended the list to 24 commodity items.

Ukraine filed a lawsuit with the WTO, accusing Poland, Hungary, and Slovakia of discriminatory treatment of its agricultural products. Ukraine is currently negotiating the introduction of a mechanism for licensing the export of Ukrainian agricultural products with mandatory verification in each of the five countries.

Tags: Ukraine, grain, EU, Poland, restrictions