Poland is on the hunt for new trade partners after seeing a 25 percent drop in exports to Russia and Ukraine, Polskie Radio reports.
Sales to the two countries have been hurt by instability in Ukraine and a Russian block on importing EU pork products, Polskie Radio says.
“It's an ideal time to gain new markets and widen the customer base,” Deputy Economy Minister Ilona Antoniszyn-Klik told the Puls Biznesu newspaper, according to Polskie Radio. To that end, Warsaw is launching a “Made in Poland” campaign in Azerbaijan, India, Indonesia, Mongolia, Malaysia, Turkmenistan, Vietnam, Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia, and Macedonia.
The campaign will include trips to the targeted countries to “court” potential contractors and journalists, according to Antoniszyn-Klik.
At the same time, Poland is trying to boost its exports to the neighbouring Czech Republic and Slovakia, Polskie Radio reported last week. Although 16 percent of Czech food imports are Polish, 32 percent of Czechs had a negative view of Polish food, which they see as unhealthy and low quality, according to Polskie Radio.
The perception might be due to a number of Czech-Polish food scandals. In 2012, Czech authorities discovered that Polish producers had been using industrial salt, usually meant to clear roads, in foodstuffs.
But despite past threats from Prague of a ban on Polish food imports, the Czech Republic imported 512.2 million Euro’ ($693 million) worth in the first five months of 2014.
