Hungary furious at Poland pulling out of duty-free food agreement

Hungarian politicians expressed outrage at the decision of the Polish government to back out of an agreement on bilateral liberalization of trade in agricultural produce, which was concluded and signed just a few days ago. Prime Minister Leszek Miller, following a major protest by Agriculture Minister Jaroslaw Kalinowski, overturned the agreement by labeling it protocols subject to agreement, rather than as a binding document. Hungary's Agriculture Minister Imre Nemeth called the decision "shocking". If it had come into force then duties imposed by Poland on wheat imported from Hungary would have been greatly lowered, while Polish confectionery producers would have been granted better access to the Hungarian market. According to Agrograin Rt., Hungary's largest wheat exporter, fears that the Polish market would be flooded with cheap Hungarian wheat are grossly exaggerated as the country's harvest will be some 25% lower than last year's. Furthermore, the poor wheat harvest in flood-stricken Germany will have importers knocking on Hungary's door. (Gazeta Wyborcza, p. 22) T.J.