Ukraine has used up six EU exporting agricultural quotas for 2018

Ukraine has used up six EU exporting agricultural quotas for 2018
Ukraine has already used up six of its duty-free import quotas to the European Union / wikicommons
By bne IntelliNews April 23, 2018

Ukraine has already used up six of its duty-free import quotas to the European Union (EU) including: honey, malt and wheat gluten, preserved tomatoes, grape and apple juices, as well as wheat and corn.

According to the Ukrainian Agribusiness Club (UCAB), Ukraine also used the second quarterly quota for export of poultry and the six month quota for butter; 95% of the quotas for cereals and flour have been used, according to Interfax news agency.

Under the terms of the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area (DCFTA) deal that Ukraine signed in 2014 as part of the Association Agreement with the EU, Kyiv can export a limited amount of listed goods to the EU duty free as a first step in integration with the EU markets. After the quotas are used up normal higher duties apply. Ukraine is not a member of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) or any of the EU’s other trade deal clubs that come with preferential duties.

The size of quotas will be slowly expanded and this is tied to progress with the reform agenda outlined by the EU in its agreements with Ukraine.

However, as the various industry lobbies in the EU are so strong - especially the agricultural lobby - these quotas have been kept comparatively small. Most of the quotas are usually exhausted in the first two-three months of the year.

"This year there was a revival in the pace of using the quotas: as of the same date in 2017, the volume of wheat had not yet been used, and the quota for malt and wheat gluten had not been used in the past year," the UCAB's analyst of the foreign trade in agricultural products Daria Hrytsenko, said. "The fact that along with six key quotas four more are closed indicates the intensification of trade relations with the EU."

According to official data, agricultural production in Ukraine (excluding Crimea and Sevastopol, as well as rebel-controlled territories of the Donbas region) decreased by 2.7% year-on-year in 2017 following a 6.3% y/y decline in 2016. Agricultural enterprises reduced production by 3.9% y/y, households - by 1.2% y/y in 2017. Last year crop production decreased by 3.6% y/y and livestock by 0.4% y/y.

 

News

Dismiss