Months after finding an alternative Black Sea route for shipping grain, Ukraine has been facing road blocks to Poland. With air transport under threat from Russia and the Red Sea route exacerbating the costs of shipping, Ukraine wants to maintain the Polish road transit at all costs.
Up to January 16, 2024, 20,000 trucks from both Ukraine and Poland stopped for days at a major border point. They were unable to move due to protesters’ blockage, reported CNN.
Farmers’ sympathizers in Poland began the road block November 2023, demanding an end to free visa passage of Ukraine’s grain trucks.
This is despite Poland’s existing ban on the the sale of Ukraine’s grain inside its borders to protect farmers’ interests. Currently, farmers have been of the view that free transit of foreign produce through their borders brings unfair competition.
Meanwhile, Sehrhii Derkach, the deputy of Ukraine’s Infrastructure Ministry said Poland cannot cancel free transit without the European Union (EU)’s intervention.
Starting spring 2023, the EU instituted a six-month ban on the sale of Ukraine’s grain within the bloc. After the ban period, Poland continued its moratorium and prompted a Ukrainian lawsuit at the World Trade Organization.
Even prior to the EU action, Poland had enforced a blockade and only allowed Ukraine grain transit in April, 2023.
Timeline on Ukraine Grain Shipping
It all started in February 2022 when Russia’s navy entrapped 20,000 tonnes (MT) of Ukraine’s produce in Black Sea ports.
Though the invasion coincided with the waning of COVID-19, it still caused global food prices to rise.
In July 2022, the two warring nations struck the Black Sea agreement. The deal enabled Ukraine to ship 33 million MT of grain via the narrow sea channel while it lasted. During this period, world’s food costs went down by at least 20%.
On July 17, 2023, Russia pulled out of the expiring deal and began aerial destruction of enemy grain shipments.
Russia cited that the United Nations had failed to honor its part to unblock Moscow’s access to foreign banks.
However, in September 2023, Ukraine found a way out. It began to use an undisputed route within the Black Sea via the waters of Romania and Bulgaria.
Since this breakthrough, wheat prices worldwide have gone down.The European wheat market in Paris experienced a drop of 0.9% in December 2023. By January 2024, wheat prices in Europe had dipped to 223 Euro, a tonne.
There has been a latecomer into Ukraine’s grain export problem, however. Since the end of 2023, grain shipments via the Red Sea have suffered a blow due to terrorist attacks.
This is even as the recent Polish blockage aggravated transportation costs, which rose by 20% during the period.
The good news is that the two countries have began negotiations in mid-January 2024 to ease transit access.