Polish farmers demanding ban on Ukrainian raspberry import, Warsaw initiating 5 EU countries' meeting with Ukrainian minister
MOSCOW. June 28 (Interfax) - More than 150 Polish farmers blocked a road in the village of Elzbieta in Poland's Lublin province demanding a ban on raspberry imports from Ukraine following a decrease in purchase prices at Polish fruit and vegetable freezing enterprises, Ukrainian media said, citing the SadyOgrody media outlet.
Polish farmers believe that the prices offered by processing enterprises are too low, while the intensive import of raspberry from Ukraine will make the situation on Poland's domestic market even worse.
Polish berry growers staged their first strike on Monday, the Polish newspaper said. During a larger protest on June 27, around 150 raspberry producers blocked traffic at the Elzbieta roundabout in the Lublin province. Its organizers expect the number of participants to increase with each subsequent protest.
"In the coming days, producers intend to take further measures against the too low prices for raspberry. Producers plan to block roads leading to processing enterprises to prevent the delivery of Ukrainian raspberry to them," the newspaper said.
As reported, the Association of Gardeners of Poland on June 16 sent a letter to the country's Agriculture Minister Robert Telus, asking him to take urgent measures to halt the import of Ukrainian strawberry, to limit it and to subsequently stop it completely.
The business association insisted on the need to introduce a system of official quality control for each batch of fruits and berries delivered to Poland, with a focus on detecting residues of plant protection products. It also proposed suspending further trade in the product until the results of the examination become available.
Ukrainian media outlets, in turn, have reported that Telus is initiating a meeting between the agriculture ministers of the five European Union countries that border Ukraine and Ukrainian Agrarian policy and Food Minister Nikolai Solsky to discuss technical issues.
"I have invited our coalition to Warsaw for a meeting with the Ukrainian minister to discuss technical issues [Ukrainian agriculture imports] and to explain that the steps taken by the European Commission are intended to help and to work our joint solutions. The meeting will take place in July," Ukrainian media outlets quoted Telus as saying in a social media post.