Poland, brief agricultural news week 45, 2019

Poland’s poultry exports expected to rise with 8%

According to the Institute of Agricultural and Food Economics, Poland’s poultry export are expected to rise with 8% in 2019 compared to 2018. This growth is mainly due to the price advantage of Polish chicken and the development of non-EU markets.

From January until September 2019, factory farms employing more than 50 workers produced 2% more poultry than the year before and reached a total of 2,44 million tonnes of poultry meat. A major growth was also seen in the hatchlings sector. The hatchlings sector grew with 9% compared to the same period in 2018.

From January until August this year, Poland exported 1,145 million tonnes of live poultry, meat, offal and poultry products, an increase of 11% compared to the same period in 2018. Of these exports, poultry products going to EU-countries saw a rise of 6%, to a total of 860.000 tonnes. Within the EU, most poultry exports went to Germany, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and France. Exports to non EU-countries rose with 27% to a total of 286.000 tonnes. Poland’s biggest markets for poultry exports outside the EU were Ukraine, South Africa and Hong Kong.

Source: PAP

Challenges in apple production in Poland discussed during Farmer conference

Polish producers produced last year almost 5 mln tonnes apples. On the average only 0.5mln tonnes is consumed in Poland. The other 1mln tonnes is exported. The rest is sold to processing industry but as all the Polish producers are producing consumption apples the quality of apples sold for processing is not satisfactory for the processors. Therefore also in-buy prices are low and the local supply is high. If Polish producers want to export products to other markets they should invest in good apple varieties that are appreciated locally and have the good quality to be able to deliver to the market. They should also organize themselves better in order to use the EU funds for promotion on foreign markets. Those funds are available only for producers organizations and the coverage of the Polish producers organizations doesn’t reflect the actual structure and size of the whole sector.

On the other hand Polish producers should pay attention to Polish apple breeders. As a big apple producer Poland should be able to introduce and promote own apple variety that is tasty and meet the quality needs.

In opposition to the meat market, the vegetable and fruit market can further develop as the basis of human consumption should be vegetables and fruits. Consumption of both is still too low not only in Poland but also in all the EU countries. Therefore it is still enough space for the grow within the domestic market- was one of the positive remarks about this sector.

LAN-WAR own report- AM

Congestion tax for large stores in Poland

The Minister of Entrepreneurship and Technology Jadwiga Emilewicz announced the possibility of introducing so-called congestion tax. In place of retail sales tax which was to be introduced in 2016, all large stores will pay congestion tax depending not on the revenues but on the area of the store. Every supermarket or hypermarket generates traffic jams and has a negative impact on the natural environment, so they will pay for the damage which they cause. The new tax may come into force next year, because this time the government does not expect resistance from the European Commission. The government gives the example of Spain where a similar tax applies in some regions (Catalonia, Asturias and Aragon), and was accepted by the Court of Justice of the European Union last year.  The difference between the Spanish congestion tax and  the one planned by Polish government is first of all that the Spanish is imposed by regions, supporting local budgets while in Poland the government will most likely keep the income from this tax in the central budget. Secondly, funds from congestion tax in Spain are used for investments to protect the environment and improve infrastructure while in Poland it is to contribute to the general budget and it is not planned to be used for any specific purposes.

The Act on retail sales tax assumed the introduction of two rates of tax depending on revenues (0.8% or 1.4%) and was to be introduced from September 2016. However, it caused a dispute with the European Commission and the introduction of the tax was postponed till December 31, 2019. In mid-May, Poland won a case against the European Commission in the European Union Court regarding this retail tax but the Commission appealed against this decision and Poland will have to wait several months for the ruling of the EU Court of Justice in this case.

Source: Polityka