The Polish Trade Inspectorate for Quality of Agricultural and Food Products (IJHARS) has fined 1.5 million zlotys (about $380,000) to an importing company that imported technical rapeseed and fodder wheat to the Polish market and sold them to a number of local companies as food agricultural products, according to the website of the agency.
It is specified that the trade inspection checked 3,882 tons of rapeseed and revealed the facts of changing the declared purpose from technical to consumer use and the declared country of origin from Ukraine to Poland.
A similar decision on the importing company in the form of imposing a fine was issued for the shipment of 7679 tons of wheat, which also revealed a discrepancy between the purpose of the product and its country of origin.
“Agri-food products intended for technical purposes are generally not produced, stored or transported in accordance with the safety standards required for food products. They are competitively priced because they are not subject to the provisions of food law, and businesses selling them do not incur the costs associated with meeting higher safety standards,” the agency said.
The trade inspectorate, based on the analysis of seized documentation, found that the fined company had put on the market more than 11,500 tons of counterfeit rapeseed and wheat imported from Ukraine and resold the goods to six counterparties from the Pomeranian and Lubelskie voivodships.
“Regardless of the administrative decision issued, the case is also the subject of criminal proceedings under the supervision of the regional prosecutor’s office in Rzeszów,” the office emphasized.
The fine issued to IJHARS in Lublin is not an isolated case, the Trade Inspection Office emphasized. Over the past few months, 6 other companies were fined for similar violations in the supply of wheat, barley, poultry meat and for obstructing inspectors from inspecting cargoes from Ukraine.
According to Przemyslaw Rzodkiewicz, chief inspector of commodity quality of agricultural and food products, inspectors checked more than 82,000 shipments in 2023.
“In order to intensify activities to ensure proper quality and positive image of food products in Poland, we have created a special group in IJHARS to combat food fraud and will soon launch a campaign together with numerous partners to counter misinformation about this category of goods,” he said.
Ukrainian ice cream and frozen semi-finished products producer Three Bears has acquired Nordis, which owns a plant for the production of semi-finished products and ice cream in Poland, the company’s founder Dmytro Ushmayev told the Ukrainian edition of Forbes.
“We have indeed acquired the Nordis plant in Poland. Nordis is similar in potential to Three Bears,” Ushmayev said.
The owner of the company refused to disclose the amount of the deal and clarified that the Ukrainian company plans to invest in the development of production in Poland.
According to the Ministry of Justice of Poland, in September 2023, the management of the Polish plant for the production of semi-finished products and ice cream Nordis changed. Dmitry Ushmayev, founder of Three Bears, became the new owner of the company. Andriy Tyshchenko, director of the Ukrainian manufacturer, has also joined Nordis’ supervisory board.
Nordis owns a plant in western Poland and warehouses. The company produces more than 100 types of ice cream and semi-finished products. Nordis also has a distribution network in 19 cities in Poland. The previous owner and CEO of Nordis was Slawomir Jankowski.
DTEK Energy Holding, through its EU-focused subsidiary DRI, has signed an agreement with Polish company Columbus Energy to build a 133 MW energy storage system in southern Poland.
“On March 27, DRI signed a definitive binding share purchase agreement with Polish company Columbus Energy, which will give it the right to build a 133 MW battery storage facility in southern Poland, subject to permits,” DTEK said in a release on its website on Wednesday.
DTEK notes that this is the largest energy storage system (ESS) project in Poland, and the agreement is its first major infrastructure investment in the country and a key element in the company’s plan to create a pan-European energy system uniting Ukraine and the EU. DTEK’s goal is to create a 5 GW portfolio of renewable energy projects in Europe by 2030 through DRI.
The acquisition of the 133 MW SPP project makes DTEK Group one of the first companies to develop this technology on a large scale in Poland, the release said.
DRI expects to close the deal with Columbus in the coming months and start construction of the facility in Q4 2024 to complete it and put it into operation in early 2026. The project is committed to providing energy capacity to the Polish market for 17 years (from 2027).
“Today’s signing marks an exciting moment in Europe’s quest to move beyond fossil fuels. This project will not only provide vital flexibility on Poland’s path to a renewable future, but will also be an important achievement for Central and Eastern Europe in demonstrating how battery storage can be successfully developed. DTEK’s investments in the country are a crucial step towards the integration of the energy systems of Ukraine and Poland,” said Maxim Timchenko, CEO of DTEK Group, as quoted in the release.
According to Krzysztof Kokhanowski, Vice President of the Board and CEO of PIME, the largest association in the energy storage industry in Poland, it is gratifying to see international energy players like DTEK investing in the Polish battery market through its EU subsidiary.
“Poland is one of the leaders in the European Union in the production of batteries and battery cells, and in the next 5 years it will be one of the leaders in the construction of energy storage facilities based on battery technology. The construction of this new facility will certainly contribute to our country’s efforts,” he said.
According to the release, Poland currently uses 30 GW of coal and natural gas-fired power to balance its energy system, which is increasingly using renewable energy sources and shifting from centralized to distributed generation. The batteries will help to ensure the grid’s performance and provide the power system with a reliable mechanism for balancing the unstable nature of renewable energy.
As reported, DTEK Group implemented a 1 MW pilot project in Enerhodar in 2021, before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. It is now under occupation. In early 2024, DRI launched its first projects in Europe: in Romania, the 60 MW Ruginoasa wind farm and the 53 MW Glodeni solar power plant. It also intends to develop renewable energy in Romania, Italy, and Croatia.
Passenger traffic on the border with Poland in both directions has increased by 8 thousand people in recent days due to the approaching Easter holidays, in this regard, the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine reports about queues at checkpoints “Krakivets” and “Shegini” and recommends to use other border crossings.
“For crossing the border by cars and buses travelers most often choose checkpoints “Krakovets” and “Shegini”. Therefore, in front of these checkpoints there is an accumulation of traffic. At the same time, border guards periodically record queues also at the entrance to Ukraine,” – reported in the telegram channel of the State Border Service on Tuesday.
According to the border department, the least dynamics of traffic is observed at the checkpoints “Smolnitsa”, “Grushev”, “Rava-Ruska” and “Ugrini”. “In order to reduce the waiting time in queues we recommend citizens to choose these checkpoints to cross the border,” – stated in the message. This year’s Catholic Easter will be on March 31.
Border Guard Service of Ukraine, EASTER, Krakivets, PASSENGER TRAFFIC, POLAND, Шегини
Polish protesters at 11 o’clock began blocking the movement of buses at the approach to the checkpoint (BCP) “Medika – Shegini”, the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine reports.
“At the checkpoint “Medika – Shegini” began blocking the movement of buses,” the State Border Service said in a message in its Telegram channel on Wednesday.
“According to information from Polish colleagues the restriction of bus traffic began today at about 11:10. Its organizers block traffic on the road in front of the checkpoint “Medika”, adjacent to the Ukrainian checkpoint “Shegini”,” – specifies the State Border Service.
Medyka-Shehyni, POLAND, PROTESTS, Ukrainian Border Guard Service
Polish authorities have agreed with farmers on subsidies per ton of grain and temporary closure of the border with Ukraine from April 1 for the transit of some agricultural products, polskieradio24.pl reported.
According to the newspaper, the document was signed by representatives of the protesting farmers, Agriculture Minister Czeslaw Seckerski and the ministry’s state secretary Michal Kolodziejczak.
The agreement envisages maintaining the current embargo on agricultural products from Ukraine, which has been in place since mid-September last year. It concerns in particular wheat, corn, wheat flour, rapeseed and sunflower.
In addition, the Minister of Agriculture must ask the Council of Ministers of the European Union to suspend the transit of these products through Polish territory as of April 1 this year.
Both sides in the signed document also consider it necessary to develop detailed rules for agri-food trade between Poland and Ukraine, but also note that the difficult situation in agriculture is the result of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine.
Farmers’ representatives in the agreement declare their government’s support for the changes to the Green Agreement. It is primarily about replacing the mandatory transfer to a voluntary ecosystem and simplifying other rules for farmers.
AUTHORITIES, BORDER, FARMERS, GRAIN, POLAND, transit products, UKRAINE
