Poland, Ukraine hail progress in food import talks, but deal remains elusive

WARSAW (Reuters) - Poland and Ukraine are close to an agreement on agricultural imports, the Polish prime minister said on Thursday, after intergovernmental talks in Warsaw failed to resolve an issue that has triggered protests by farmers.

While both Donald Tusk and Ukrainian counterpart Denys Shmyhal spoke warmly of their countries' cooperation, the elusiveness of a deal illustrates the difficulties of bridging the gap between Warsaw and Kyiv's positions on Ukrainian agricultural imports that have strained relations.

Farmers in Poland have blocked motorways and border crossings with Ukraine and infuriated Kyiv by spilling loads of imported grain across train tracks, as they demand the re-imposition of customs duties on agricultural imports from Ukraine that were waived after Russia's invasion in 2022.

They say Ukraine's farmers are flooding Europe with cheap imports that leave them unable to compete and that much of the grain that is supposed to transit through Poland ends up on the domestic market.

Kyiv says that the protests are harming its economy and war effort against Russia's invasion. It also says only a small portion of the grain it exports transits through Poland.

"We are close to a solution," Tusk told a press conference. "This applies to the amount of products that can flow into Poland, once we determine it, we are close to ensuring that transit does not disturb the Polish market."

'CONSTRUCTIVE' TALKS

Ukrainian Prime Minister Shmyhal said the talks were "extremely constructive" and intensive. "Today I can say that we definitely have progress regarding lifting of the (border) blockade."

Poland has been eyeing a licensing deal for agricultural trade with Ukraine similar to one agreed with Kyiv by Romania and Bulgaria.

"I am glad that today we have agreed that solutions that work well from the point of view of protecting the Romanian and Bulgarian markets will also be used in our relations," Tusk said.

On Wednesday Polish Agriculture Minister Czeslaw Siekierski said talks were ongoing about a system of licensing exports, but that there were differences over the range of products that would be covered.

Ukrainian Farm Minister Mykola Solsky said the discussions with Poland were "complicated but frank".

"It is important that we have already discussed solutions that will soon be announced. At the same time, the issue is difficult for all parties and requires additional time," he said in a statement.

Ambassadors from European Union countries reached a revised deal on Wednesday to extend tariff-free food imports from Ukraine - with restrictions - after some states, including Poland, complained the original agreement risked destabilising the bloc's agricultural markets.

An EU diplomat said the new deal - which would run until June 2025 - was similar to a provisional agreement struck last week but changed the reference period used to determine when tariffs on some products would be applied.

(Reporting by Alan Charlish, Pawel Florkiewicz, Karol Badohal, Anna Wlodarczak-Semczuk in Warsaw; Additional reporting by Yuliia Dysa in Kyiv; editing by Philippa Fletcher and Emelia Sithole-Matarise)