Ukraine to abstain from grain, sunflower seed exports to Poland until next season

MOSCOW. April 10 (Interfax) - Ukraine will abstain from grain and sunflower seed exports to Poland until the next season to deal with the overstocking of the Polish market and protests of Polish farmers, the Ukrainian media said with the reference to the Polish Agriculture Ministry, which cited Ukrainian Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food Nikolai Solsky.

"We need to solve the problem. Hence, Ukraine will abstain from exporting wheat, corn, rapeseed and sunflower seed to Poland [until the next season]," the media quoted Solsky as saying at a joint press conference with his Polish counterpart Robert Telus at a press conference in Dorohusk on the Ukrainian-Polish border on Friday.

"The Ukrainian side has proposed very significant cuts or even suspension of grain exports to Poland," Telus said.

It would be necessary to clear Polish warehouses before harvesting begins, he said.

The Polish minister added that export restriction procedures would be coordinated by next week.

Speaking of Ukrainian grain transit through the Polish territory, he said that Poland would be closely monitoring the shipments so that the grain does not remain in its territory.

"A special system will allow us to see where transport comes from and where it is destined. The transit will be sealed off," he said.

Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky said at a meeting with Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki in Warsaw on April 5 that the sides had found a solution to the problem of Ukrainian grain exports to Poland.

The Polish and Romanian governments said earlier they would ask the European Commission for developing mechanisms to avoid price dumping to the detriment of local farmers.

Polish farmers threatened to disrupt Zelensky's visit to Warsaw, and Polish Agriculture Minister Henryk Kowalczyk resigned.