Ukraine grain imports down, minister announces

Ukrainian grain imports into Poland have decreased over the past two weeks, Poland's agriculture minister said on Tuesday in a television interview.

The import of grain from Ukraine has prompted protests from Polish farmers. They have said that rather than being exported on to a third country, the grain, which comes with a price-tag half of its Polish equivalent, has been bought up by companies in Poland, prompting the price to plunge.

Farmers have called for tighter controls over the imports.

Speaking to the Polsat News channel, Henryk Kowalczyk said: "We have figures from the National Revenue Administration. The imports (of Ukrainian grain - PAP) have really gone down in the past two weeks, approximately three to four times, thanks to a grain control system."

Referring to recent talks about Ukrainian grain with Polish farmers, Kowalczyk said the government was planning to buy Polish grain, to begin at latest on April 12. He added that the Sejm (the lower parliament house) was expected to pass a PLN 600 million (EUR 128 million) grant to finance the purchases.

Poland has allowed the transit of Ukrainian export grain through its territory in face of the country's export difficulties after its invasion by Russia.