Poland says breakthrough on Ukrainian grain unlikely in Warsaw talks

WARSAW (Reuters) -The Polish and Ukrainian governments meet in Warsaw on Thursday for talks to defuse a row over grain imports that has caused mass protests by farmers, but a top Polish official said a breakthrough was unlikely.

Farmers in Poland and elsewhere in the European Union havebeen protesting to demand the re-imposition of customs duties onagricultural imports from Ukraine that were waived afterRussia's invasion in 2022.

They say Ukraine's farmers are flooding Europe with cheapimports that leave them unable to compete.

"It is difficult to expect any breakthrough after these talks, any specific agreement, for example on agricultural issues," Jan Grabiec, head of the prime minister's office, told state news agency PAP. "We are still in dialogue and both sides - at least for today - are not fully satisfied."

Poland has been eyeing a licensing deal for agricultural trade with Ukraine similar to one agreed with Kyiv by Romania and Bulgaria.

On Wednesday Polish Agriculture Minister Czeslaw Siekierski said talks were ongoing about a system of licensing exports, but that there were differences over the range of products that would be covered.

Ukrainian Farm Minister Mykola Solsky said the discussions with Poland were "complicated but frank".

"It is important that we have already discussed solutions that will soon be announced. At the same time, the issue is difficult for all parties and requires additional time," he wrote on social media platform X.

Grabiec said almost the entire Ukrainian government would be represented at the talks, which Deputy Foreign Minister Andrzej Szejna told public radio would also cover cooperation between the countries' arms industries, cultural issues and energy.

"We will discuss arms for Ukraine, the situation on our countries' borders, trade development and infrastructure. Count on a pragmatic and constructive dialogue and the development of effective solutions," Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal wrote on X ahead of the talks.

Ambassadors from European Union countries reached a revised deal on Wednesday to extend tariff-free food imports from Ukraine - with restrictions - after some states, including Poland, complained the original agreement risked destabilising the bloc's agricultural markets.

An EU diplomat said the new deal - which would run until June 2025 - was similar to a provisional agreement struck last week but changed the reference period used to determine when tariffs on some products would be applied.

(Reporting by Alan Charlish, Pawel Florkiewicz; Additional reporting by Yuliia Dysa in Kyiv; editing by Philippa Fletcher)