Business News Poland-week 17
- Stanisław Chao
- Apr 18, 2020
- 4 min read
Difficult situation in the soft fruit sector in Poland
Corona crisis seems to be the first topic everywhere, but it is not the only problem for the Polish soft fruit sector. Definitely corona caused major problems with employees working normally on fields. Many Ukrainians decided to go back home and stay there until the risk of the disease is over or will lower down. They made the decision within a day after the Ukrainian government decided to close the borders on 28 of March. Considering the fact that the biggest soft fruit valley in Poland is located in Lubelskie region, so right next to the border with Ukraine, employees disappeared almost within a day from the region.
Another big problem is the weather: the winter this season was extremely mild in the whole Europe. This means that many plants started their vegetation already. The first leaves appeared on strawberry fields in Poland so the season will start really fast this year. This however is a problem for farmers as they don’t know whether to take out the protection against frost and let the plants grow. In case of light frost the flower buds on the plant will freeze and plans won’t give any fruit anymore.
Energy firm Tauron to build 5-MW solar power farm in southern Poland
The Tauron Group is to build a 5-MW photovoltaic farm at the site of the former Jaworzno I Power Station, in southern Poland, the firm has announced in a press release. The project will be co-financed by the Provincial Fund for Environmental Protection and Water Management (WFOSiGW) in Katowice, southern Poland.
The contract with WFOSiGW provides for the granting of preferential loans to build solar energy farms with the possibility of redeeming up to PLN 3 million (EUR 663,000). Tauron said that after fulfilling the contractual terms, Tauron Wytwarzanie will be able to make use of the redeemed quota to finance further pro-ecological investments.
The EU looks towards green coronavirus recovery
European politicians, companies, lawmakers and activists called on Tuesday for green investment to restart growth after the coronavirus pandemic, saying fighting climate change and promoting biodiversity would rebuild stronger economies.
The European Union is headed for a steep recession triggered by the outbreak, but divided on how to finance economic recovery, with the ailing south advocating issuing joint debt against the opposition of the fiscally conservative north.
With EU leaders due to meet next week to discuss the recovery plan, a group of 180 political decision-makers, business leaders, trade unions, campaign groups and think tanks urged the bloc to adopt green stimulus measures. source
Polish PM says Poland needs to stimulate economy on many levels
Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said on Wednesday that Poland needs activities to stimulate the economy on many levels and that the Local Government Roads Fund is an element of the fight against the coronavirus epidemic.
"We need a counter-offensive, we need activities stimulating the economy on many levels. The Local Government Roads Fund is over 3 billion zloty (EUR 661 million) and that is not our final word," the PM continued, explaining that a huge public investment programme would earmark additional funds for local government.
Poland's LOT pulls out of deal to buy German airline Condor
The owner of Poland’s national airline LOT said on Monday it had pulled out of a deal to buy German rival Condor, raising the prospect of Berlin nationalising the troubled business.
Condor confirmed it had been informed that PGL was walking away. It said there were various options about future ownership on the table and it was in talks about state aid as a result of the coronavirus crisis.
Poland's 5G auction delayed due to coronavirus
Poland's telecoms regulator has dropped a deadline for its first 5G auction due a government clampdown designed to tackle the spread of the corononavirus.
Poland had initially sought preliminary offers from telecom companies interested in acquiring spectrum in the auction by April 23, but the deadline will be missed due to the pandemic, the regulator said its public information bulletin on Friday. It gave no other details and no indication of a new timetable.
Polish Cement Association calls on government to send cement and construction workers back to work
The Polish Cement Asociation has written an open letter to the government explaining how important it is to get the cement and construction sectors back to work.
“The contribution of Polish construction to the national economy is estimated at 10 per cent of GDP, including the cement industry generating directly about one per cent of our GDP... "For the sake of the state of the entire economy, including the situation of all participants in the construction process, we call for consistent support in maintaining investment continuity and public procurement, which is the basis for maintaining jobs and a source of income for almost 2 million employees.
"The cement industry in Poland is currently 13 modern plants – located in small towns, most of them in relatively less economically developed areas of Poland – which are the basic and often the only place of work for many families from surrounding towns, communes and poviats. The domestic cement industry directly employs over 4000 employees, and taking into account subcontractors in the entire supply chain, indirectly creates over 25,000 jobs. The cement sector in Poland discharges approximately PLN1.5bn (US$359.8m) annually in the form of taxes and tributes to the central budget and local government budgets.
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