Ukraine will not protest against total inspections of agricultural exports in Poland – Solsky

Ukraine will not object to inspections by the Polish veterinary and phytosanitary inspectorates of Ukrainian agricultural products exported or transiting through Poland. Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food Mykola Solsky said this during a telethon.

“Let our colleagues check. We are not afraid of inspections,” Solsky said, commenting on the statement of Polish Deputy Minister of Agriculture Michal Kolodziejczak, who announced the day before that all Ukrainian agricultural products would be inspected, including those that transit through Polish territory.

At the same time, the minister noted that the Ukrainian side is not yet aware of such precedents.

He also expressed doubts about the feasibility of the scheme voiced by Kolodziejczak, according to which Ukrainian agricultural products allegedly transit through Poland to Germany or other countries and then return to the Polish market under the guise of European products.

“At the very least, it is economically unprofitable to transport (agricultural products – ed.) to Hamburg and then back to Warsaw. It doesn’t work that way. Neither does shipping to Vilnius and then back,” Solsky explained.

He added that a very small amount of grain is exported through Poland, as 90% of Ukrainian farmers have been preferring to export agricultural products through the Ukrainian ports of Greater Odesa for the third month in a row.

As reported, the day before, Polish Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Michal Kolodziejczak said that Polish services would check all Ukrainian grain transiting through the country to other countries and ports at the border.

For his part, Vice President of the Association of International Road Carriers Volodymyr Balin said at a briefing on Monday that Polish customs officials are already refusing to put seals on trucks with Ukrainian grain that are to be transited to other countries.

As a reminder, on February 9, Polish farmers began a blockade of three checkpoints on the border with Ukraine, and on February 12, the protests spread to two more checkpoints. On Tuesday, February 13, five border crossing points between Ukraine and Poland were blocked.

Tags: Poland, protests, grain quality