Ukraine Gate- Kyiv – May 17, 2022 – Ukraine’s Agriculture Minister Mykola Solesky said Poland will ease health controls and increase the number of inspectors in a bid to increase Ukraine’s grain exports through its territory after the signing of an agreement between the two countries.
With the closure of Ukrainian ports due to the Russian invasion, Ukraine was forced to send shipments across its western borders, relying on the limited capacity of trains and small ports on the Danube River, as Ukraine is one of the largest producer and exporter of grain in the world.
Traders and officials said customs procedures and a lack of inspectors are limiting shipments from border crossings with Poland.
“The expected measures … will greatly facilitate the crossing of our grain shipments across the borders and increase their quantities, and this is the ministry’s priority,” Ukraine’s Agriculture Minister said in a statement on Monday.
Ukraine’s grain exports also halved in the first ten days of May to about 300 thousand tons from 667 thousand tons in the corresponding period of last year.
Last week, official data showed that Ukraine had exported 46.17 million tons so far in the season from July 2021 to June 2022, compared to 39.65 million tons in the previous season.
Ukraine’s infrastructure minister said this month that 3.5 million tons of shipments in April were carried by trains across the western border.
