Warsaw, Aug 2: Polish Farm Minister Artur Balazson on Tuesday sought to cool tensions on the grain market by saying that losses in this year's harvest would be smaller than the Central Statistical Office (GUS) forecasts. He said the government would consider allowing duty-free imports of up to 300,000 tonnnes of grains over the next two months to stabilise the market, which has been harmed by a spring drought. More duty-free imports could be needed after harvest, he added.GUS said on Monday that due to bad weather and low use of fertilisers, grain output would shrink by up to 18 percent to 20.5-21.5 million tonnes in 2000. The report made front page news in Poland's largest dailies on Tuesday. Balazs said losses were likely to be around 10 percent."A lot of nervousness turned up on the market and pessimistic forecasts made farmers confused. Some decided to withhold from selling new grain," he told a news conference. "If such a situation contiunues, we may need to import some 200,000 to 300,000 tonnes over the next two months to stabilise the markets," he said. Grain and animal feed producers have said Poland would have to import even up to 5 million tonnes of grain in the 2000-2001 season to satisfy domestic needs estimated at some 27.5 million tonnes.Government officials have declined to comment on the numbers. Poland's farm market regulator, the Farm Market Agency(ARR), said its harvest estimates were similar to those of GUS.
It said on Tuesday that it would ask the government to authorise additional duty-free import quotas for grains.The cabinet has already granted the ARR a duty-free import quota of 100,000 tonnes of grain. Other importers have been allowed to buy 200,000 tonnnes without the duty, which amounts to up to 60 percent in the case ofwheat. Balazs said extra grain imports, if any, would be considered once the harvest was completed around the end of September.
"If we decide to import a few million tonnes of grain now, the market would be destabilised. We have to wait until the end of September," he said.Government aims to cap prices
Pesimistic harvest forecast sparked worries that the government might not be able to stabilise the market. But the ARR's president said imports and actions taken by his agency should keep prices from rising."I think that milling wheat prices during harvest will be below 600 zlotys per tonne," Andrzej Luszczewski told a news conference. Last week milling wheat cost some 600-650 zlotys. Prices usually fall during harvest.
-- (Reuters)
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