OREANDA-NEWS  Poland imported fertilizers from Russia in 2024 for a record 318 million euros, the Rzeczpospolita newspaper reported.

"The volume of mineral fertilizers imported from Russia to Poland in the first nine months of 2024 increased by 140%, to 952 thousand tons, and their cost increased by 123%, to a record 318 million euros. For comparison, we imported fertilizers from Germany in the amount of just over 200 million euros, and the total volume of fertilizer imports to Poland is more than 1.1 billion euros," the newspaper writes.

According to Arkadiusz Zalewski, an analyst of the agricultural resources market at the Institute of Agricultural and Food Economics, Poland imported more fertilizers from Russia only in 2017.

"The observed increase in imports of mineral fertilizers, especially from countries with lower production costs, having access to relatively cheap natural gas, on the one hand, leads to lower prices on the domestic market, but on the other hand, causes increased dependence of agricultural production in Poland on fertilizers from abroad, which in the long term is not necessary it will lead to low prices for fertilizers," he said.

According to the publication, the growing dependence not only of Poland, but also of the entire European Union on Russian fertilizers allegedly poses a serious threat to its agricultural sector and food security and even reflects its former dependence on Russian natural gas. According to the newspaper, this raises concerns about "potential geopolitical weaknesses."

In response to the call to the European Commission to impose tariffs on fertilizers from Russia and Belarus, submitted in late November by Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, other EU countries said they would consider supporting Warsaw's initiative at a later stage. According to the Polish Ministry of Development and Technology, customs duties can reach 30%. But as the publication admitted, Warsaw cannot count on the support of all EU countries.