Ukrainian exporters expect Poland to speed up grain transit

Queues for veterinary and phytosanitary control at the border crossings of Ukraine and Poland began to grow from August 2023 and in September-October reached 12-14 days. Ukraine has created an electronic queue for trucks transporting agricultural goods, thanks to which drivers do not stand in a field near the border, but at home or in specialized parking lots. For two months, negotiations have been ongoing with Poland and the European Commission on the transfer of control from the border to the destinations, namely to the ports of other EU countries, but the elections in Poland prevented the adoption of a decision. This week, the Polish side promised to transfer control to the Lithuanian port of Klaipėda, but it is not yet known whether this will work for other ports.

Due to the queues at the Polish border, part of the cargo in the direction of the Baltic countries began to move through the borders of Ukraine with Slovakia and Hungary, which increased the queues for them from 2-3 to 6-8 days, and, accordingly, the cost of delivery. If in July the delivery of a tented truck from Ukraine to Riga was quoted at 1,500 euros, then in October carriers ask for 2,100-2,500 euros for the flight, which increases the cost of delivery by 26-45 euros/ton.

Last year, after negotiations between Ukraine and Poland, veterinary and phytosanitary checks were not carried out at the border, which made it possible to increase grain supplies through Ukrainian-Polish crossings to 800,000 per month.

Yesterday, the Minister of Agriculture of Poland, Robert Telus, announced the transfer to the Lithuanian port of Klaipeda of the control of grain transiting through Poland and Lithuania, as part of the construction of the solidarity corridor. Later, this information was confirmed by the Minister of Agricultural Policy of Ukraine, M. Solskyi.

We will remind that on September 15, Poland extended the ban on the import of wheat, rapeseed, corn and sunflower from Ukraine, and also unexpectedly introduced a ban on the supply of other goods, in particular sunflower meal, due to which some trucks that had been standing in line for 10-12 days had to turn around back.

Earlier, Polish President Andrzej Duda promised to speed up and increase the transit of grain from Ukraine, but he supported his government's decision to ban the import of Ukrainian agricultural products to Poland.