Poland, brief agricultural news week 24, 2020

Poland exports grain

Intensive sale of cereals in Poland continues. In May, three times more wheat flowed from Polish ports than a year ago. Grains in the country, however, will not be lacking this year, although prices may vary.

In May, approx. 350 thousand tonnes wheat from Polish ports was exported which is compared to  125.7 thousand tonnes from a year ago three times more than in 2019. Exports in June are also estimated to be higher than in the previous season. In this way, exports throughout the season, from July 2019 to June 2020, may close at 3.9 million tonnes (1.7 million tonnes a year ago). Therefore wheat stocks kept in Poland will fall to 250,000 tonnes against an average of 600-800 thousand tonnes in previous years, which would mean minimum inventory in the country.

This means that even when domestic wheat harvest in 2020 will be similar to last year's, grain prices will probably be at a generally higher level than in previous season – New harvest is estimated at approx. 11.1 million tonnes, which is comparable to the last season. Usually 4 million tonnes goes to consumption; another 3.5 million tonnes is used for feed pourposes, and the rest for sowing, for industry or for export.

There will be plenty of wheat, but grain stocks also matter. They are a buffer, if it turns out that in the world wheat harvests in the coming season will fall significantly, then global prices would start to increase, which would also translate into higher domestic prices. In the absence of stocks, prices in Poland would grow faster and, as a result, could increase food prices. There is however no threat of supply problems in Poland.

Source: Rzeczpospolita

Online platform for Polish food products

Since few weeks a new platform (https://polskiebazarek.pl/) for direct purchase from farmers is operating in Poland. The aim of the platform is to create an easy access to fresh products produced on Polish farms. Farmers receive a fair price for their products and customers know the source of the product, are sure the product is fresh and don’t have to pay for any intermediation, which also mean the whole profit is taken by the farmer.

The initiative is taken by the Polish Ministry of Agriculture and realized by the regional Agricultural Advisory Centra.

Source: MARD, TVP Bydgoszcz