Ukraine has avoided the Russian cliffs and is once again exporting a large part of its grain. But the flag cannot go out yet: the transport through Poland is being obstructed by saboteurs.
The images don’t lie. Train wagons carrying grain illegally unloaded across the border in Poland. You used sabotage to annoy Ukrainian farmers. Kees Huizinga, who farms in Ukraine, is annoyed by these criminal actions. “Poles walked past the wagons, opened the doors and let all the grain pour out.”
According to him, it happens in several places along the Polish-Ukrainian border. An estimated 160 tons of grain has been wasted so far. “That’s relatively not too bad, but things are going from bad to worse. It started with a few tons of a truck. Then some wagons with rapeseed and now complete train sets. The worst thing is that this is playing into the hands of the Russians. Putin laughs when he sees the empty wagons with the grain next to them on the roadside.”
There are Polish farmers behind it who believe that there is unfair competition. They claim that Poland is being flooded with cheap Ukrainian grain, forcing them out of the market themselves.
‘Polish police must intervene’
According to Huizinga, the farmers’ protest has been hijacked by the extreme right Konfederacja, a Polish version of Forum for Democracy. Rafal Mekler, one of the leaders of the movement, is said to have ties to Russia. “The Polish police must intervene. Polish farmers must be made clear that the grain is not intended for Poland but for the world market.”
It comes at a time when much of the export through the Black Sea has been restored after two years of Russian blockades. “Of the eight to ten ports, three are still functioning. That is not enough to export all the grain. A few Danube ports and train connections to the Baltic Sea ports are also needed.”
Before the war, Ukraine was one of the largest grain exporters in the world. No less than 40 percent of exports consisted of grain. This earned it about $12 billion in 2021.
‘I started selling full throttle last year’
Huizinga himself has now traded all his grain. “I started selling at full speed last year, because I am still afraid that something will happen, for example that the Russians will destroy the logistics. Then the grain has nowhere to go.”
According to him, it sells for lower prices than before the war. “In a year like this, it costs our company five million euros in lost revenue.”
He is annoyed by the hesitant attitude of Europeans and Americans. “They should not talk, but clean up and supply Ukraine with weapons and ammunition as quickly as possible. Or should a bomb fall on Amsterdam or Berlin first?”