Poland to track, escort transiting shipments from Ukraine as part of deal

Poland will use special trackers to pinpoint the location of agricultural products entering from Ukraine so that they do not stay in the territory, Ukraine’s agricultural minister Mykola Solskyi explained on Wednesday.

Tracking is part of the agreement struck between Kyiv and Warsaw yesterday that will see Ukrainian agricultural products transited through Poland, following its decision to temporarily ban their imports.

"Transit opens overnight on Thursday [on the night of 21 April]. There are additional control measures that will be carried out by the Polish side. We are currently working out the details to make it work," Mr Solskyi said.

According to him, the tentative plan is that when exporters arrive at the border, they fill out a transit declaration and receive a special tracker that will track the location of their shipments.

"The tracker shows that the trucks or wagons are going to ports or other EU countries. In the first week, if the Polish side wishes, they can be physically accompanied by their customs officers to draw conclusions for themselves," the minister explained.

Mr Solskyi further added that Polish transit is very important for Ukraine, accounting for up to 10 percent of Ukrainian agricultural exports, half remaining in Poland.

"Among the Western countries, the largest transit is through Romania, the smallest, through Slovakia. The second largest country after Romania in terms of exports and domestic consumption was Poland," the minister said.

"If we are talking about Hungary, it is five to six percent; Slovakia, 1.5 percent; and for Romania, it’s a double-digit number, of which 90 percent is transit."

Ukraine’s agriculture ministry is still calculating Ukraine's potential losses due to export problems, Mr Solskyi said.

Last week, Poland officially banned the import of Ukrainian grain until June 30, with Hungary and Slovakia following suit. In addition, Warsaw originally banned transit of Ukrainian agri commodities as well, which was resolved following two days of negotiating on Tuesday.