The return of Polish farmers – threatening new protests at the border

Polish farmers have said that they can return to protests on the border with Ukraine after the completion of field work.

According to Polish farmers, the flow of agricultural products from Ukraine is destroying, among other things, the soft fruit market, reports Latifundist. 

Polish producers receive 6.5-7 zlotys for one kilogram of raspberries — this is below the level of profitability. Farmers fear that purchase prices will continue to fall, and they believe that fruit imports from Ukraine are to blame.

Sylvester Dzevulsky from the Lublin Chamber of Agriculture stated that “recently there has been a significant decrease in purchase prices, which is clearly caused by imports from Ukraine.”

Poland cannot compete with Ukraine, because the cost of production here is much lower, and Ukrainian farmers are not obliged to meet the strict environmental standards of the EU. Therefore, there is a high risk of losing foreign markets for Poland. Frozen raspberries from Poland were mainly sent to Scandinavian countries. Farmers believe that the Ukrainians “want to capture this market”, so they ask the authorities to take measures.

“The introduction of limits depends on our authorities. At least that’s what the manufacturers think. This product should complement our market, not destroy it. We have a number of services at the border, which should check all transport, not selectively,” commented Dzevulskyi.

Farmers do not rule out that they will return to protests after the completion of field work.

USM previously reported that 75 Polish companies are suspected of fraud with Ukrainian grain.