Lithuanian farmers complain about Russian, not Ukrainian grain
5 March 2024 12:10
Polish protesters have begun blockading the border with Lithuania, where they believe Ukrainian grain is entering the country. At the same time, Lithuanian farmers claim that the biggest problem is not Ukrainian but Russian grain, Kommersant Ukrainsky 
with reference to LRT.
“These are impressive figures: more than 3 million tonnes of Russian grain passed through Latvia and Lithuania together in 2023. In total, 12 million tonnes of Russian grain were imported to the EU market last year,”
– said Ausris Macijauskas, representative of the Lithuanian Grain Producers Association.
At the same time, only about 50 thousand tonnes of Ukrainian grain were imported to Lithuania last year,
According to the farmer, Russians are deliberately lowering prices for their grain to create chaos in the agricultural sector. But the European Commission has the tools to stop this.
“There is a regulation that allows the EU to intervene in the market in an emergency and start buying food products whose prices are falling sharply. In this case, it could buy Ukrainian grain on the territory of Ukraine and thus stabilise the market,”
– Mr Maciauskas said.
Border blockade
Problems on the Ukrainian-Polish border began on 6 November 2023, when Polish transport companies began blocking truck traffic at three major checkpoints on the Ukrainian border: “Korczowa – Krakowiec, Hrebenne – Rava-Ruska and Dorohusk – Yahodyn. One of the requirements was to reinstate the permits for Ukrainian carriers that had been cancelled under the agreement with the EU by 30 June 2024.
On6 January, truck traffic to the Medyka-Shehyni border crossingin Poland resumed. Three other border crossing points were opened on 17 January, namely Dorohusk – Yagodyn, Hrebenne – Rava-Ruska, and Korczowa – Krakivets.
on 9 February 2024, Polish farmers began a new nationwide strike and blockade of the border with Ukraine, which will last until 10 March. It was initiated by the independent farmers’ trade union Solidarity. The main demand of the protesters is to cancel the preferential trade regime with Ukraine and to return the permit system for importing goods into Poland.
Meanwhile, Poland has already imposed an embargo on Ukrainian grain, Polish Deputy Agriculture Minister Michal Kolodziejczak said.
Polish Minister of Development and Technology Krzysztof Hetman, in turn, said that Poland could impose an embargo on all Ukrainian agricultural products.
Ukrainians responded by blocking the border for Polish trucks.
