Before the embargo, Ukraine increased grain exports to Poland

Wheat exports from Ukraine to Poland increased 600 times before the embargo. Wheat and corn were exported the most.

During 2023, grain exports to Poland tripled – from 1.1 million tons in 2021 to 3.2 million tons in 2022. The biggest increase came in wheat and corn, writes Rzeczpospolita.

According to the Polish Ministry of Finance and Tax Service, at the beginning of 2023, the increase was already calculated by hundreds of times.

“In the first four months of 2023, when the protests of Polish farmers were already ongoing, almost 338,000 tons of wheat were imported from Ukraine. This is 610 times more than in the same period last year,” said Arkadiusz Artyshak, professor of the Warsaw Academy of Natural Sciences.

This increase in imports became possible after the decision of the European Commission to open the EU market for Ukrainian goods in mid-2022.

Read also: Reasons and consequences of the ban on the import of grain from Ukraine.

Already at the end of April 2023, Poland, Bulgaria, Hungary, Slovakia and Romania agreed to the allocation by the European Commission of an additional 100 million euros to support farmers in exchange for unblocking grain imports from Ukraine.

At the same time, the “Deceited Village” farmers’ organization, which organized protests against Ukrainian grain in early 2023, has already warned: if the embargo is lifted, it will block the border again.

As previously reported by USM, currently the restrictions are valid until September 15, but the European Commission does not plan to extend them. Five EU countries appealed to the European Commission to introduce protection mechanisms for the farmers of these countries against the increased influx of Ukrainian agricultural products.