A military guard is in the woods, close to Milejczyce village, Poland, in November. REUTERS Lukasz Glowala File Photo
MOSCOW, Dec 3, Reuters - The migrant crisis on the Belarus-Polish border has caused logistical problems for Russian food producers who are suffering losses and need to temporarily stop production if the situation worsens.
Poland has closed several border crossings with Belarus for cargo transportation, because of the European Union accusing Minsk of manufacturing a standoff with the West by pushing migrants from the Middle East to illegally cross its borders.
Long tailbacks of trucks have formed at the four functioning Poland-Belarus border crossings out of a total of six. The Belarusian border service says that Lithuania's six crossings are open.
The trucks transport goods and raw materials to Belarus and Russia, where they are used by food producers.
At any one time there are 400-600 trucks at the crossings from Poland to Belarus, slowing down normal waiting times of 12 -- 24 hours to 2 -- 4 days, a Russian market source told Reuters.
It has driven up transport costs because every day there are 500 euro waiting costs. The source said that using a different crossing route costs between 300 and 400 euros.
Russian importers' losses are not large, said another market source. The source said that they had been getting worse last week but have improved slightly this week.
If the situation gets worse, it threatens to break the supply chain and factories will grind to a standstill, the source said.
The tailbacks in the opposite direction have already worsened, the source said.
A lobby group that includes Mars, Pepsi, Danone, Nestle, CocaCola, Metro, TetraPak, appealed to the Russian government on November 18 to intervene, a letter seen by Reuters.
The Foreign Investment Advisory Council said that the continuation of the current situation could have significant impact on supply chains and availability of goods for the public, especially given the increased cargo volumes and heightened demand in the run-up to the New Year holidays.
The Deputy Prime Ministr Andrey Belousov's office, to whom the letter was addressed, said it would look into the situation. The Transport Ministry didn't want to make a statement.
The letter said that about 10% of Russia's imports pass through Poland and Belarus.
The Belarusian border has been built up on the Belarusian side of the border with the European Union, according to data from the Belarusian border service. There are 400 -- 700 vehicles waiting at the border at any one moment, according to the data.