By KYIV. Nov 24 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The Supreme Audit Office of Poland (Najwyższa Izba Kontroli, NIK) completed an investigation into the uncontrolled import of grain from Ukraine for the period from the beginning of January 2022 to the end of August 2023 and called the cause of the grain crisis “ineffective actions and decisions of the Polish government,” the Polish edition of Rzeczpospolita reported.
“The implementation of tasks related to the import and trade of grain and rapeseed from Ukraine was not reliable and effective,” the publication quotes the final NIK report.
It is indicated that imports of wheat increased from 3,100 tonnes in 2021 to 523,000 tonnes in 2022, corn – from 6,200 tonnes to 1.85 million tonnes, and rapeseed – from 86,000 tonnes to 662,000 tonnes.
During the audit period, 541 companies imported 4.3 million tonnes of grains and oilseeds worth PLN 6.2 billion into Poland. The largest amount of grain and rapeseed was imported by a company engaged in the transshipment and sale of agricultural products from Masovian Voivodeship. The value of these imports exceeded half a billion zlotys. Among the remaining companies from the top ten importers (totaling PLN 2 billion), five are also based in Mazovia, while the rest are involved in grain trading, butter production, poultry farming and pig farming in Lublin, Pomeranian, Kuyavian-Pomeranian and Lesser Poland voivodeships.
“When alarming signals about an uncontrolled influx of grain began to grow, the authorities downplayed the significance of the problem. According to (former) Minister of Agriculture Henryk Kowalczyk, ‘Ukrainian grain does not flood the Polish market and does not pose a threat to Polish farmers,'” the publication noted.
The Polish department is confident that the ex-minister, calling on farmers not to sell grain and rapeseed, increased chaos in the market and misled them with the promise of high prices, which would rise in the second half of 2022. The Minister of Agriculture’s assessment of the situation was incorrect and was not supported by data and analysis that would have made it possible to predict further developments in the situation.
