POLISH Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced that the state will build a new grain terminal at the Port of Gdansk in a bid to strengthen the country’s food security.

Speaking at a press conference at the Baltic port, deputy infrastructure minister Arkadiusz Marchewka said the port would require an investment of €117m ($123m).

Tusk said the need for a new terminal was down to the influx of grain from Ukraine since the Russian invasion began in 2022. The port handled 52% more grain in the first half of 2023 compared to the same period in 2022, when Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began. 

Polish farmers held a large protest on the Ukrainian border in February 2024, calling for an import ban on grain from their Eastern neighbour, which they blamed for price drops.

A lack of port infrastructure meant much of the grain making its way across the Ukrainian border was staying in Poland, the BBC reported.

Tusk told reporters the terminal “will not only perform commercial functions, but will be a safety device in the hands of the Polish state as part of protecting Polish interests and Polish farmers”.

Gdansk already has several grain terminals in operation, but these are privately run.

At the same time, minister of infrastructure Dariusz Klimcza said the Port of Gdansk will invest more than $98m to develop road and rail infrastructure and build additional warehouse storage.

A contract has also been signed for the construction of a regasification terminal at the port. The maritime office will invest €186.3m into the project, deputy infrastructure minister Arkadiusz Marchewka said.

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