Poland: Cement producers are calling on the European Commission to introduce quotas on imports from Ukraine, to limit their volumes to 0.36Mt/yr. This figure is almost half of the 2024 figure. Poland imported 0.1Mt of cement from Ukraine in 2022, but more than 0.65Mt in 2024. Forecasts for 2025 exceed 1.0Mt, a 10-fold increase in just three years. Ukraine exported 1.7Mt of cement to EU countries in 2024.
The Polish Association of Cement Producers (ACP) believes that the increase in imports is already harming local cement plants, which it says are forced to compete with Ukrainian suppliers on unequal terms. Wlodzimierz Choluy, a member of the ACP's board of directors, emphasised that the effects of imports were becoming particularly noticeable in the border regions of Podkarpacie and Lublin voivodeships.
Polish manufacturers complain that Ukraine is not covered by the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS), meaning that Polish-made cement is at a cost disadvantage. This is known as ‘carbon leakage.’
