Agriculture Ministry: Poland exports no more than 40% of apples
PR dla Zagranicy
Roberto Galea
07.04.2015 13:48
Following the introduction of a Russian trade embargo on Polish apples, the authorities in the country have been expanding their scope to export the Polish fruit.
Photo: cc/Flickr.com/Michael Verhoef
“This will not happen right away,” Agriculture Minister Marek Sawicki told the PAP news agency, adding that at first, the export of apples will unlikely exceed 40 percent of Poland’s needs.
The Minister explained that for a long time, the main recipient of Polish apples was Russia. This changed because of the trade embargo with the EU.
“At the moment – due to the closure of the Russian market – we must look for markets around the world and this, unfortunately, will not be completely successful in the short term.
“In my view, we [currently] sell no more than 40 percent of what we would like to export to foreign markets,” Sawicki said.
“Every market, whether it be India, Indonesia, Singapore, or the United States, is very much needed.
“We should not be discouraged by the fact that at the beginning we sell there a few tens of thousands of tonnes, because that could later develop into millions,” Minister Sawicki said.
“We should develop these outposts, it is worth making the effort.”
At present, the largest recipient of Polish apples is Belarus. The country receives 28 percent of apples from Poland. (rg)