During Thursday's Sejm session, Deputy Minister Michał Kołodziejczak was asked by MP Małgorzata Gromadzka (Civic Coalition) about several important issues.
– The first question refers to the situation related to the export of agricultural produce from Polish ports in the new season, because as we know, export is one of the main price drivers, increasing the profitability of agricultural production. My next question: what is the share of companies belonging to the National Food Group in the cereal trade in relation to other participants of the agricultural market? As we know, whether the Elewarr company or other companies belonging to the National Food Group are responsible for stabilizing prices on the Polish agricultural market, but are also responsible for the receipt and purchase of these products from the Polish farmer. What real impact do companies owned by KGS have on the prices of agricultural produce? And one more question: what is the current situation regarding the tender for the agriport in Gdynia? When can we expect the tender to be resolved and completed? The current operator has a lease agreement until the end of 2024 – recalled MP Gromadzka.
KGS means nothing on the agricultural market?
– If we are talking about the influence of KGS or companies subordinated to KGS on the shaping of the market in Poland, it must be clearly said that this influence is negligible. This can be described as 1-2% maximum. But here we also see neglect from previous years. The storage capacity of Eelwarr and KGS is approx. 700,000 in total. t of cereals – admitted Deputy Minister Michał Kołodziejczak in response.
He added that the Ministry of Agriculture looks with great hope at the possibilities of expanding exports through the National Food Group, which – as he noted – "entered the competition for the lease of the grain terminal in Gdynia, a state-of-the-art, renovated terminal, which the previous government wanted to hand over to a global tycoon."
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And yet, the tender for the grain terminal at the Port of Gdynia was canceled
– This competition was annulled. KGS submitted an offer (in a new tender – editor's note). We are hiccupping at the moment. We hope that the deadline for considering these offers will be short. It all depends on those who manage this port. It is also worth emphasizing that in the case of KGS, when it comes to grain, we are talking about a negligible impact, but when it comes to other products, at least using the example of sugar beets and the sugar market, we can see that in this case it may already be shaping prices in Poland. Because if the National Food Group has 40% of sugar beet production under its control, we know that this is an influence. This is market shaping. This means building stable relationships with farmers, said Kołodziejczak.
As he also noted:
– If we also talk about what is happening on the starch potato market, here the influence of companies subordinated to the National Food Group is increasing and these relationships with farmers are being built. KGS is perceived as a stable, good partner, one who pays on time, ensures appropriate turnover of goods and signs contracts with suppliers . We know that this is the solution and this is undoubtedly the direction in which our country should go and which is currently set by the Ministry of Agriculture.
Keep your fingers crossed for KGS's success in the tender
The deputy minister reminded that it was also under the influence of the Ministry of Agriculture that the competition for the grain terminal in Gdynia was invalidated.
– The company that was supposed to manage the terminal in Gdynia already handles approximately 60% of grain exports from Poland by sea. If it took over the terminal in Gdynia, which today has the capacity to export 2 million tons of grain, and ultimately it may even be 4 million tons of grain per year, with the total export of grain by sea from Poland in the previous year at the level of 9 million tons… It is easy to calculate that the terminal in Gdynia can export 30% of grain from Poland. And here, if the National Food Group actually operated this terminal, we could develop storage, trade and export capabilities. Here is this stable influence on the market.
Kołodziejczak admitted that "the situation after these many years of neglect is difficult, because the influence of Elewarr and KGS on the grain market is small, but we look with hope to what will happen."
– I also assure you that we will monitor the market and after these good meetings, the first three, of the team monitoring the cereal market, there are already ideas to expand the team to also monitor, for example, the market for potatoes or other products throughout Europe and the world, so that Polish farmers They had reliable information and could use it, said the Deputy Minister of Agriculture.
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Terminal tender – KGS still in the game
– The Port of Gdynia Authority (…) after examining the applications submitted by the lessees to participate in the procedure and the initial offers, states that the below-mentioned lessees meet the conditions for participation in the procedure and have been qualified to participate in the second stage of the tender procedure – announced the Port authorities Gdynia in a statement.
Five candidates will compete for the lease: the current temporary lessee, i.e. Mondry (this time on its own without Chemirol and the agricultural produce distributor Agrolok), OT Port Gdynia, i.e. the company already managing one of the terminals in Gdynia, Szczecin Bulk Terminal, which submitted an offer together with the Warsaw terminals. consulting companies Tapini and Ribera, and Gdynia-based companies Speed, Astar and Tridente (this time without NTA). As already mentioned, the state-owned National Food Group also submitted an offer.
