Polish farmers threaten to block the border with Ukraine once again due to growing competition: what product is in question

Polish farmers may decide to block the border with Ukraine again because they are dissatisfied with the competition over soft berries. The crossing points are open fo now as local authorities have not given farmers permission to do so.

This was reported by the vice president of the Association of International Road Carriers of Ukraine Volodymyr Balin, Hromadske Radio reports. However, he noted that the farmers themselves call the failure of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy of Poland to fulfill its obligations on compensation the official reason for possible protests.

"They allegedly restricted the use of certain substances for farmers and were supposed to pay compensation for this, but they are not doing so. As far as I understand, this is a question to the Polish government and partially to the EU. I think this is still an attempt to put pressure on their government," Balin said.

At the same time, he emphasized that according to insiders, the real reason for the planned protests is quite different. The fact is that the Poles are unhappy with the competition over soft berries.

"According to our information, Polish farmers applied to the local authorities for permission to protest. As far as we know, the authorities refused them. We are pleased with this fact. It seems that our work last November was not in vain. They turned to court and obtained the right to block the Shehyni crossing," the expert noted.

At the same time, he said, after the end of the previous strikes, everything started to work out, but soon new complications began on the Polish side. In particular, according to him, "there were cases when the same berries arrived to the Polish side, where they took samples and left them standing for seven days."

Polish protests on the border with Ukraine

Protests by Polish farmers on the border with Ukraine lasted from November last year to April this year. The main demand of the protesters was to restrict imports of agricultural products from Ukraine, as well as to reduce the import of grain despite the fact that such crops are transiting through the country.

The situation at the border was resolved only in late April, but similar one-day protests took place in May and June. In fact, by blocking the border, the Poles mainly harm themselves, as in 2023 Poland exported $12.3 billion worth of goods to Ukraine and imported $6.6 billion worth of goods from Ukraine.

As reported earlier, the Nyzhankovychi-Malhowice checkpoint on the border with Poland has stopped working. However, not for good. It is expected that by the end of 2024, the construction of a new checkpoint will be completed.

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