So far, shipments have mainly been from ports in Poland, the Baltic states, Bulgaria, and Romania. Expanding the 'solidarity routes' to more distant ports has become necessary after Russia canceled the agreement for Ukrainian grain exports via the Black Sea in July. EU Trade Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis has asked Moscow to revive this agreement.
Subsidizing Ukrainian transportation costs is one of the options being discussed this week in the agriculture committee of the European Parliament. Sources say the European Commission has not yet allocated additional budget nor found a clear way to help finance the extra transport costs.
Agriculture Commissioner Wojciechowski will report on the latest situation on Thursday, as the temporary Ukrainian 'export ban' to the five neighboring EU countries expires on September 15. The removal of import duties to EU countries in recent months has caused many Ukrainian agricultural products to enter those five neighboring countries, disrupting the local markets there.
Those five countries have asked Brussels to at least extend the ban until the end of this year. Commissioner Wojciechowski generally agrees with this, but the other EU commissioners and member states consider it too strong an anti-Ukrainian measure.
Poland has warned that if the European Union does not approve an extension of the restrictions, Warsaw will impose them unilaterally if necessary. Polish farmers would be willing to again block border crossings. "Poland will definitely do it, Hungary will definitely do it," said Polish Minister of Agriculture Robert Telus yesterday.
The issue of Ukrainian grain imports thus risks reigniting a diplomatic dispute between Poland and Ukraine, amid the already heated Polish election campaign. The future of the Polish agricultural sector and its relationship with Ukraine play a major role in this campaign. Kyiv aims to join the EU as soon as possible.
Just last week, the Polish agricultural federation published a report on the future and the necessary modernization of Polish agriculture. Among other things, it warns that in a few years Poland will not be able to compete with its Ukrainian neighbors.