Poland was forced to cancel the embargo on the import of Ukrainian agricultural products

Poland's Minister of Agriculture Czeslaw Sekersky emphasized that the country will be forced to lift the embargo on the import of Ukrainian agricultural products into the country. Therefore, Poland will look for other mechanisms in trade with Ukraine. According to the government official, the embargo on Ukrainian agricultural products will have to be lifted.

"It calmed the situation on the Polish market to a certain extent, but in a political sense it was poorly received. The European Commission and Ukraine are protesting," the minister admitted.

At the same time, he noted that there are other ideas "on the table" - for example, licensing of products coming to Poland.

"In the current difficult situation, we want to develop a method of protection against the negative consequences of importing agricultural products from Ukraine that is acceptable to all participants. We are analyzing and conducting internal consultations regarding, in particular, the licensing mechanism for the export of agricultural products to Poland proposed by the Ukrainian side," the minister noted.

In his opinion, such a decision, "with the appropriate support of the European Commission", could be acceptable.

It is already known that Polish protesters have completed the blockade of three checkpoints on the border with Ukraine. The State Border Service of Ukraine has already announced the completion of border blocking in front of the Krakivets and Rava-Ruska checkpoints. Later, it was reported that the blockade was lifted in front of the Yagodin checkpoint.

We will remind that the agreement to stop blocking the specified checkpoints was recorded in an agreement between the carriers and the Ministry of Infrastructure of Poland, signed on January 16. However, according to the protesters, this decision is temporary and will be valid until March 1, 2024.

We will remind that the blocking of the Krakivec-Korchova, Rava-Ruska-Hrebenne and Yagodin-Dorogusk checkpoints on the border with Ukraine has been in effect since November 2023.

It is worth noting that five Eastern European countries still demand the return of import duties on Ukrainian grain. After all, the ministers of agriculture of the EU member states bordering Ukraine consider it necessary to re-introduce import duties on Ukrainian grain due to allegedly unfair competition. The corresponding letter was sent by the ministers of agriculture of Bulgaria, Poland, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia to the Vice President of the European Commission, the European Commissioner for Trade Valdis Dombrovskis and the European Commissioner for Agriculture Janusz Wojciechowski. According to the letter, in recent years, in addition to challenges caused by high production costs, increased price and profit risks, as well as unfavorable climatic conditions, the increase in exports from Ukraine has caused increasingly serious concerns for farmers in the specified countries. The letter also mentions that the five countries bordering Ukraine are among the six EU member states that can produce significantly more wheat and corn than they need, so their contribution to the EU's European food security is important.

It is also known that Romanian farmers continue to block the traffic of trucks near the Siret and Vikovu de Sous checkpoints. Ukrainian border guards currently do not know when the blocking will end and the checkpoints will begin to operate as normal.