It hurts to see thugs who, under the veil of Polish farmers, spilled Ukrainian grain on the ground. Many Poles felt ashamed and many expressed outrage and sadness on social media.
It hurts much more to see Ukrainians taking Poles for an enemy. And this happens – understandably – when Poles are closing the border against Ukrainians.
How did we come to this? Why do Polish farmers protest against Ukrainians when 77 percent of the Poles support them at the most terrible time for Ukraine?
The simple answer is that Polish farmers’ complaints are largely justified as Ukrainian imports have deprived them of some part of their income – not all, but these imports flooded the Polish market, and the offered prices have undercut Polish producers drastically.
As the Polish Supreme Audit Office (NIK) reported, imports from Ukraine to Poland in 2022 alone signified a massive increase:
- Wheat by 16,771 percent – from 3,100 tons in 2021 to 523,000 tons in 2022,
- Corn by 29,803 percent – from 6,200 tons in 2021 to 1.8 million tons in 2022,
- Rapeseed by 670 percent – from 86,000 tons in 2021 to 6.6 million tons in 2022.
Between Jan. 1, 2022, and April 30, 2023, 541 companies imported a total of 4.3 million tons of cereals and oil plants worth PLN 6.2 billion ($1.5 billion), which drove the prices down and hurt the farmers in the process.
The NIK also believed the Polish government did not develop systemic solutions, including mechanisms to ensure the functioning of Polish agricultural producers, to maintain agricultural market stability.
This report was revealed in November 2023, and despite the fact that Polish media has been reporting on this problem for months – this data came as a shock nonetheless.
WORLD BRIEFING: May 5, 2024
Here’s a timeline of the events that unfolded.
May and June 2022
Low prices of Ukrainian grains led to its popularity in Poland
Ukrainian agricultural products, without having to meet EU quality, safety, sanitary and ecological standards as a non-EU member, were cheaper than local Polish production, which must meet the bloc’s standards and regulations. As a result, Ukrainian producers/exporters were able to offer much lower prices than Polish farmers.
In economics, exporting the product at a price lower than the prices on the importing market in order to take over the market, if applied with malicious intentions, would be qualified as “dumping prices.”
There was no malicious intention on the Ukrainian side – instead, it was a desperate need to save the national economy of which agricultural exports are a big part. This is why after Russia invaded Ukraine, the EU decided to help the Ukrainian economy by:
- Suspending customs duties and quotas on imports from Ukraine (starting from June 2022 initially for a year, with the possibility of extension)
- Bypassing the Russian blockade of the Ukrainian Black Sea ports, which handled 90 percent of Ukrainian agricultural exports before the war, to create the “solidarity corridors” in which Poland and Romania played the main roles.
Everybody understood the need and everybody agreed.
All was going seemingly well until Polish farmers began having problems with selling their agricultural products domestically.
April 2023
In Poland, 2023 was an election year. For the then-ruling PiS party, farmers were the pillar of the electorate, and the party was doomed to lose without their votes. As Polish farmers were getting more and more vocal about their frustration, the PiS government decided to act.
As a result, Poland, alongside Hungary and Slovakia, introduced a ban on Ukrainian grain imports in April 2023.
To some extent, this appeased Polish farmers. However, the Ukrainian government was upset by Poland’s decision, and the contacts between officials made a U-turn, going from cordial, as depicted in photos of Presidents Volodymyr Zelensky and Andrej Duda hugging each other, to permafrost.
After some talks between the Polish and Ukrainian governments – with no hugs this time – it was decided that Ukrainian exports for other destinations would be allowed to transit through Poland.
All was going seemingly well until reports started coming in that Ukrainian exports, that were entering Poland for transit only, were not leaving Poland for other destinations as declared.
It appears that opportunistic entrepreneurs from Ukraine and Poland decided there was no reason to stop their profitable trade of buying cheap Ukrainian ingredients and turning them into shelf-ready products, thus eliminating Polish farmers along the way. It’s also worth noting that the drop in prices on the gross product market did not translate to reduced retail prices.
September 2023
The Ukrainian government sought help from the EU to force Poland to lift the ban, but the European Commission’s attempt to discipline Poland was futile. The growing exasperation eventually erupted as a very public blow-for-blow display:
- Duda compared Ukraine’s fight for survival against Russia to that of a “drowning person,” bringing down those who try to help.
- Zelensky accused Poland of supporting Russia indirectly, claiming “some of our friends in Europe” have “made a thriller from the grain” at the United Nations General Assembly.
- Mateusz Morawiecki, Poland’s prime minister, hit back at Zelensky by hissing “never insult Poles again.”
Then, the Polish government announced it had no more weapons for Ukraine – it had to re-arm its own army.
November 2023
The October elections in Poland led to the opposition’s victory, but it was not decisive enough that it was only able to consolidate its power by mid-December. Meanwhile, the conflict over Ukrainian imports continued, and new actors entered the stage in early November.
This time it was the Polish truckers, and they entered the stage with a bang and blocked the Polish-Ukrainian border, but not about grain imports this time.
This time, they said it was about unfair competition from Ukraine, as the introduction of the electronic queue system favored Ukrainian truckers by about 10-12 days, where they would not have to wait at the checkpoint to enter or leave Ukraine, while everyone else, including Polish truckers, had to.
Polish truckers presented many more demands than just correcting the queue system, but they did not garner much attention as the Polish government was already a lame duck.
The new Polish government was sworn in only in mid-December. After several weeks of negotiations, Polish truckers withdrew from the border blockade.
However, the truckers' blockade would soon be replaced by Polish farmers with tractors.
February 2024
The EU decided to extend the tariff exemption for Ukraine, which led Polish farmers to the conviction that not only was their problem not going to be solved, but it would get worse.
This brought us to the February blockade when the emotions among the Polish farmers reached a boiling point, leading to grain-spilling incidents and anti-Ukrainian slogans – likely fueled by some active agents of a certain country who were identified through VKontakte.
Shouldn’t the Polish farmers be at the Russian border?
According to some Ukrainian institutions, Russian imports are bigger than Ukrainian imports – which is categorically untrue.
Imports of Russian grain in 2022 – not directly, but via the EU – were only 6 million kilograms (it should be zero, but the EU forgot to ban this import), while imports of Ukrainian grain in the same year were 3 billion kilograms, which is 500 times bigger.
What about the German border?
On Feb. 20, the Polish deputy agriculture minister suggested that Polish farmers might have been blocking the wrong border – as it turns out, Ukrainians have been obeying the “transit only rule” in the past month, but these cargos have been returned by German customs.
When Ukrainian grain reached Germany, it was reported to be of poor quality upon examination and did not meet the country’s requirements, where it was then returned to Poland as European grain.
“It is no longer returning to Ukraine, but to Poland,” said the minister.
Welcome to the EU ever unhappy family, Ukraine. Yes, the usual bickering among EU members about quotas and farmers’ issues is – in the words of Zelensky about the border blockade – a mockery compared to what Ukrainians are facing near Kupyansk.
Does the Polish government realize that? Yes, they do and I very much hope they are close to solving the problem.
The views expressed in this opinion article are the author’s and not necessarily those of Kyiv Post.
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Comments (4)
This is not a simple problem. Local farmers has own point of view, but there are also customers who are glad to buy cheaply.
Very informative article.
The one thing which noone seems to remember here is fact that grain issue was not only Polish-Ukraine problem. Selling of Ukraine grain rised sharply in ALL closes/frontier countries last year and without import ban agriculture of those countries would have been distroyed which would lead directly into 'civil war' in those countries. At this point I hope we all remember president Zelensky at UN and WTO lawsuit.
Another importent factor here is that countries like Germany or France didn't notice this problem ... till now.
Few days ago president Macron was saying about Ukraine unfair competition in France. Why?
Because turned out that e.g. import of cheap Ukrainian cheaken increased 50% last year in EU and France started experianced what frontier countries witnesed several months ealier. This plus EU Green Deal and few other issues creates huge and real problems for farmers. Same in Germany, Ireland, Spain.... everywhere. Naturally in Poland too.
But when it comes to Poland suddanly noone seems to remember about big picture and there 'back stubbing' and 'this is just political theater' attitude shows out.
And personally I would like to say here 'Hello' to Ukrainian journalists who several days ago started spreading fake-news that Poland buys more grain from ruzzia than from Ukraine. Very friendly move and ... fair play game indeed.
@Tofade,
@Tofade,
Thank you for your kind words - and I did address this fake about Russian imports - I am active on Quora and this is how I discovered this misleading "info" and straightened it up on Quora first https://onlytruthaboutrussia.quora.com/School-Math-Mistake-Propaganda-or-Russian-Sabotage-Fuels-Anti-Polish-Paranoia-Across-Ukraine
Again - thank you for your comment,
Best Anna Magdalena
I think both countries should be hoarding that food like there's no tomorrow. It's cheap insurance at any price because once a country's people get hungry anything could happen. Hungry people are angry people, Louis and Marie learned that too late. Someone (probably some Not-see or Henry Kissinger) said "Control the food and you can control the people."
A well thought out article. I think it better illustrates the problem from Poland's perspectives. However it also acknowledges the minimal options Ukraine presently has, and that they are doing exactly what the EU said to do.
Given quickly rolled out EU solutions to the Black Sea shipping corridor blockade, Poland is taking the brunt of the economic impacts. Disappointingly Germany in declining / rebranding shipments transiting through Poland has done both countries a (hopefully unintentional) disservice.
Ultimately this problem must be solved better at the slow moving EU / ECC level. The EU must suitably incent nations bordering Ukraine to keep these conduits open. All allied nations need to immediately stop importing even non sanctioned russian commodities for which there is a Ukrainian substitute. The unintended impacts of supporting Ukraine's war efforts must be better shared across all EU members.
Polish and Ukrainian peoples your nations fates are intertwined. You must somehow stop these blockades immediately! Putin's steam roller will next be pointed in your direction. Your people will then directly feel Ukraine's immense pain. Each day Ukraine's commerce and weapons supplies are delayed brings the russian menace one step closer to Poland's own door.
@John, the truth is, Polish farmers cannot (and are not willing to) wait for months until the European Commission resolves this issue. They did that last year and all they received was extension free trading pass for Ukrainian agricultural companies. They claim that yet another year would lead to the banktrupcy of their farms. Unfortunatelly, it is the EC who caused the trouble, when they happily allowed import of all agricultural goods from Ukraine without any conditions. On the other hand, EU farmers still has to adhere to various rules which imposes additional burdens on them (and increases costs).
There is one more thing here - Polish politicians claim that negotiations with Ukrainian counterparts are very difficult, as they do not want to accept any kind of concessions (namely, deputy Taras Katschka seem to be a dealbreaker) and consistently threat Poles with suing Poland to WTO and the EC. Obviously, this does more harm than good, as Poland is not happy with being threaten.
@Jerzy, Ukraine's fate and Polands are intertwined. Putin's regime has said as much. Ukraine falls and Poland is next.
So how does one farm and ship produce in a Polish landscape full of russian mines and bomb craters. How will it store and ship its produce with its infrastructure destroyed. Which remaining neighbouring EU border will Poland need to cross as it fights off planned invasion.
Now how do the costs of all the above.......as presently endured by Ukraine compare with the burdensome EU rules you speak of? Recognizing the importance of Ukraine's survival the EU has made exceptions to keep Ukraine going. Ukraine is in compliance with what the EU said it should do. Your beef should be with the EU, for not sharing this burden on Poland more widely on its other members.
Now here's an alternate way to alleviate this. The EU has recently brokered many free trade agreements off continent. In Canada that is the CETA agreement. Allied consumers would love to see both Polish (and Ukrainian) products available here, but they are presently far and few between. Poland is in a better position to ship offshore presently. Poland could become the amazon warehouse of many European consumables heading off continent. Consumers in all allied nations including those outside of the EU want to help any nation helping Ukraine.
@John, you do not understand situation of Poles a bit. First of all, while Poles understand that Russia is a threat, nobody actually believes anymore that there is a simple equation: if Ukraine falls, Poland is next. Poland is a totally different country, stronger, in NATO and less corrupt. The sole fact that Ukraine may fall does not mean that Poland will be attacked. There of course may be hybrid warfare from Russia (and is now, eg. on Belarussian border), but open attack is a whole different situation.
I understand that this whole "Poland is next" is an emotional argument that is easy to use, but even Poles are not as irrational to believe there is simple equation between Ukraine and Poland's fate. If you do, then fine, you are allowed to do so. However, please have in mind that this statements have no influence in Poland, let alone other EU countries where people seem to be willing to accept some kind of truce with Russia. If you wish to have a constructive talk about the border situation, you need to use more rational arguments.
@Jerzy, ..."You need to use more rational arguments"......now why does that remind me of past MRGA troll "arklahomboy" (another US state derived name).
How do you propose Ukraine continue its important agrarian sector country when ~20% of their farmland is no longer accessible to them (stolen, mined, flooded, poisoned), and Poland blocks the supplies they need to defend and reclaim their legal land.
How would you propose Ukraine get the weapons the Allies provide given months of rotating Polish border blockades (some actively requesting russia help them)?
Poland's own revered past leader Lech Walesa just stated yesterday that all allies must quickly increase their aid to Ukraine. As per this article, 77% of Polish people want to do this.
Do you consider it important that Ukraine wins against the russian invaders?
@Jerzy, The EU is trying to destroy the small farmers, so Poland's pain although real, is being caused by the very organization that is supposed to help all the people in Europe. The EU is a parasitic organization, just like the UN, and will feed off its host until the host is dead.
@Brian, Yeah right troll...its "a parasitic organization" that has a line up of nations trying to join it. Each well knows that in this era there is strength in numbers, both against allied trade wars (USA mostly) and criminal war mongering regimes (Russia mostly). The only country that left the EU was Britain under the dismal influence of right Wing putin affiliated UKIP's Nigel Lafarge. Since Brexit in 2016 a majority of polled Brits continue to wish they had not left the EU.
The problem is not in the institutions mandates, but in typical bureaucracy of anything big, and the abused voting rights of subversive putin affiliates.
No EU member always gets its way. Still at least in Poland's case the net flow of funds from the EU to them has constantly remained about 2-4 times higher then they contribute every year since they joined. In 2022 for example they contributed 7.46 billion to the EU and received in return investment of 18.74 Billion.
Meanwhile under EU membership the infrastructure in Poland and its access to foreign markets has greatly improved. Things most EU members on their own could not achieve.
This is one small war related glitch and it will be sorted shortly.
@John, many thanks for your insightful comments here! Highly appreciated! Anna
@Jerzy,
many thanks for your comments - and yes, it is as you write - Ukrianian side is not forthcoming about any concessions because they are defending what the EU pledged to give them.
We'll see how those negotiations are going
Best, Anna