DISINFO: Ukrainian food imports threaten Poland’s agrarian sector with extinction
SUMMARY
Polish farmers have taken the lead among European food producers protesting the dumping of Ukrainian agricultural commodities into the EU, with the country’s mostly smallholder-dominated agrarian sector threatened with extinction if imports of cheap Ukrainian foodstuffs are allowed to continue unabated.
RESPONSE
The claim is distorted, exaggerated and part of a wider manipulation portraying EU/Europe as being near collapse - be it due to economic crises, Covid-19 or as this time - due to relations with Ukraine.
The claims also seeks to drive a wedge between different groups in European societies: this time farmers vs the elite / other groups. It is a well-known Kremlin claim that Ukraine is the source of problems and this is instrumentalised to undermine popular support for Kyiv.
Although the concern of Polish farmers is real, Poland’s farming sector does not face any existential threat from Ukrainian imports. The European Union has repeatedly readjusted the so-called Autonomous Trade Measures to support Ukraine’s economy while at the same time reinforce protection for sensitive EU agricultural products. This includes an emergency brake for some of them -such as poultry, eggs and sugar- which would stabilise imports at the average import volumes in 2022 and 2023, meaning that if imports of these products were exceeding those volumes, tariffs would be reimposed to ensure that import volumes do not significantly exceed those of previous years.
Restrictions on Ukrainian imports have been in place since May 2023, including a temporary ban on domestic sales of Ukrainian wheat, maize, rapeseed, and sunflower seed in five EU countries, including Poland. By September 15, the European Commission concluded based on data analysis of the impacts of Ukraine’s exports on EU agricultural markets that “the market distortions in the five member states bordering Ukraine have disappeared”, according to a CSIS report published on 20 February 2024, and decided to remove the ban. Nonetheless, Poland, Slovakia and Hungary maintained their own restrictions.
In October 2023, Poland and Ukraine reached an agreement to allow the transit of Ukrainian grain through Polish territory. According to Ukrainian authorities, only 5% of Ukrainian grain exports pass through the Polish border, but despite Poland not being the destination of these exports, protesters have spilled some Ukrainian grain cargos.
See other examples of similar disinformation narratives, such as claims that the alleged Polish-Ukrainian “friendship” will suffocate both countries, that Ukrainian grain destroyed Kyiv's dream of becoming an EU member state, that Ukrainian grain fills European granaries and breaks EU unity, or that Ukrainian grain further increases the divide between Old Europe-Eastern Europe. For more information on this topic, read the EUvsDisinfo article covering Russian disinformation related to food security.