June 17, 2022

Poland says constructing grain silos at Ukraine border could take up to four months

Henryk Kowalczyk, the Polish Agriculture Minister, said constructing grain silos at the Poland-Ukraine border as proposed by US President Joe Biden to assist Ukraine in exporting their grains could take between three to four months, Reuters reported.

Biden announced that temporary silos would be built along the Ukrainian border in order to help the country export more grain and address the growing global food crisis.

Grain shipments from Ukraine have stalled since Russia's invasion and blockade of Ukrainian Black Sea ports, with more than 20 million tonnes stuck in silos. Ukraine claims to be short on silos for a new crop.

In a Facebook post, Polish Agriculture Minister Henryk Kowalczyk said President Biden's proposal is an interesting idea, but it requires working out several details, including location, infrastructure, financing, and ownership.

He also said this type of investment takes three to four months to complete.

Poland has stated that it could increase Ukrainian grain transit to 1.5 million tonnes per month, but that further increases would be contingent on overcoming logistical issues such as a lack of rail cars and the fact that Ukraine's track gauges differed from those in Europe.

Silos at the border would allow for storage of commodities that would otherwise have to be transferred to different trains at the border.

-      Reuters