Ukraine seeks re-opening of food transit via Poland at talks

KYIV (Reuters) -Kyiv will aim to secure the re-opening of food and grain transit via Poland as a “first step” at talks in Warsaw on Monday, Ukraine’s agriculture minister said, after Poland and Hungary announced bans on some imports from Ukraine.

Some Black Sea ports were blocked after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year and large quantities of Ukrainian grain – which is cheaper than that produced in the European Union – ended up staying in Central European countries because of logistical bottlenecks. This hit prices and sales for local farmers.

Ukraine usually exports most of its agricultural goods, especially grain, via its Black Sea ports which were unblocked last July in line with an agreement between Ukraine, Turkey, Russia and the United Nations.

“The first step, in our opinion, should be the opening of transit, because it is quite important and it is the thing that should be done unconditionally and after that we will talk about other things,” Agriculture Minister Mykola Solsky said.

“In terms of figures, everything that crossed the Polish border (from Ukraine)… is about 10% of everything (of food goods) Ukraine exported,” he said in comments published on the Telegram messaging app by the Agriculture Ministry.

He added that deliveries to Hungary accounted for around 6% of Ukraine’s farm exports.

Solsky said that Ukrainian food transit via Hungary and Slovakia was unaffected.

He also said there would be additional talks this week in Romania on Wednesday, and in Slovakia on Thursday.

Solsky told Reuters separately that the Warsaw talks were expected to start around midday.

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