Even the Polish trucking industry is well positioned to withstand Ukrainian competition. It has overtaken Germany as the largest in the European Union and accounts for more than 6 percent of national GDP. It is also a major employer – before Russia invaded Ukraine, Polish trucking companies employed more than 100,000 Ukrainians as drivers; Another 25 thousand came from Belarus.
“Of course, this represents a challenge for some sectors of our economy, but it also represents an opportunity,” said Pawel Sliwski, vice president of the Polish Economic Institute in Warsaw. “It is an opportunity or incentive for some Polish sectors to move up the value chain.”
He added that instead of trying to support struggling sectors such as small-scale grain production, Poland should look for opportunities from integration in Ukraine. “Wouldn’t it be more beneficial, instead of competing with Ukraine for some simple goods, to expand into food processing, packaging, etc., and then benefit more from synergies and cooperation with, for example, Ukrainian suppliers of these final products in Ukraine? Value chains?”
Sliowski acknowledged that amid the economic gains, there will be losers.
Not least in the areas immediately bordering Ukraine.
Border line
Truck drivers there were transporting goods to Belarus and Russia before the two countries broke off from the European Union. As Ukraine’s trucking sector grows, competition for these traditional routes will increase if they reopen.
