Ukraine and Poland need a model of co-operation on grain - Morawiecki

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki has said that the ban on imports of Ukrainian agricultural products will remain in place until Kiev and Warsaw build a certain model of "grain behaviour", RMF FM has reported.

Morawiecki pointed out that since midnight on 16 September, Poland has single-handedly imposed a ban on imports of Ukrainian grain, despite the fact that the European Union has not done so.

As I said a few days ago: either the European Commission will continue the import ban, will continue the embargo, or we ourselves will impose an embargo for the next months, for the next quarters, until we work out a model of cooperation with our eastern, Ukrainian neighbour," he said.

We would like to point out that the day before the European Commission cancelled the ban on imports of Ukrainian grain to the EU countries bordering it. After that, Poland, Hungary and Slovakia unilaterally announced the extension of the export embargo, while Romania and Bulgaria agreed to lift the restrictions. Moreover, the Romanian side said that it was ready to triple the transit of Ukrainian agricultural products through its territory.

Poland, which has become one of Ukraine's strongest allies in the war with Russia, explained its decision by the fact that the country's authorities need to think about local farmers, who suffer losses due to the fact that a large amount of Ukrainian agricultural products enter the territory of Poland and they suffer losses.

The Slovak government also explained its decision to impose the ban by caring about farmers. It noted that the ban on imports of Ukrainian wheat, corn, rapeseed and sunflower seeds will last until the end of the year.

We must prevent excessive pressure on the Slovak market in order to remain fair to domestic farmers," Slovak Prime Minister Ludovit Odor emphasised.

According to the prime minister, the Slovak government will continue to work intensively with the European Commission and EU member states to find a solution. Odor emphasised that Slovakia is ready to lift the ban when the issue is resolved.

We would like to point out that the National Bank of Ukraine forecasts that the foreign currency earnings of agricultural producers will drop by about 600m dollars by the end of the year due to the ban on food imports imposed by Eastern European countries.