Agriculture and Rural Development Minister Robert Telusz has assured the Sejm that the ban on imports of Ukrainian grain to Poland will continue after September 15, polskieradio.pl reported.
“Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki and Polish Deputy Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski made it clear: Ukrainian grain will not enter Poland after September 15. We will protect Polish agriculture,” Telusz said.
In mid-September, the ban on imports of wheat, corn, sunflower seeds and rapeseed from Ukraine to Poland, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary will expire.
Five of Ukraine’s neighboring countries are in favor of extending the ban at least until the end of the year.
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said that Poland would maintain the existing ban even without the consent of the European Commission.
As reported, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmygal considers Poland’s intention to continue blocking the export of Ukrainian grain amid Russia’s aggression as “an unfriendly and populist step” that “will hit the world food security and Ukraine’s economy hard”. He called on the European Commission to ensure unimpeded export of Ukrainian food to the EU.
In her turn, First Deputy Prime Minister and Economics and Trade Minister Yuliya Sviridenko admitted that Ukraine might introduce mirror measures against some products from Poland.