Polish grain import ban cost Ukraine $143 million

UkrAgroConsult

The Polish government’s decision to ban imports of Ukrainian agricultural goods cost Kyiv $143 million last month.

Deputy Economy Minister Taras Kachka said at the Brussels Economic Forum that the European Commission will pay Polish farmers “compensation for nothing” because the protest was “a bluff by Polish farmers.”

Kachka noted that the Ukrainian side suffered losses of $143 million from Warsaw’s unilateral decision.

In April, Poland and several other eastern EU members imposed restrictions on Ukrainian food exports, citing a sharp drop in market prices that hurt their farmers. The move drew criticism from the European Commission.

Kachka noted that Brussels’ new decision improves the situation, but does not solve the problem.

“Thanks to the intervention of the European Commission, we are getting some relief, but the situation is not resolved,” Kachka said.

As a reminder, on May 2, the European Commission adopted exceptional and temporary safeguard measures on imports of certain agricultural products from Ukraine following pressure from five EU member states that blamed Ukrainian imports for the collapse of local prices.

Thus, the European Commission has replaced the unilateral decisions of the five countries with its own regulation and now the ban on imports to these five countries concerns four agricultural products: wheat, corn, rapeseed and sunflower seeds from Ukraine.