EU opens market for Ukrainian oilseeds and beet seeds

The Council of the European Union has recognized the equivalence of Ukrainian standards for the production of beet, sunflower, rapeseed and soybean seeds with European requirements. The Council of the EU announced this.

Thus, Ukrainian seeds of these crops have received full access to the EU market without additional checks, since Ukrainian quality control standards have been recognized as equivalent to European ones.

Ukraine has had equivalence for grain crops since 2020, and now the list has been expanded to include four more crops. This opens up a new large seed sales market for Ukraine.

The decision will enter into force 20 days after its publication in the Official Journal of the EU.

Supplement.

Executive Director of the Seed Association of Ukraine Suzana Grigorenko noted that this decision of the EU Council indicates official recognition: the products of breeding and seed companies that have a full production cycle meet the same requirements for quality, purity, and similarity as products from EU countries.

“Our seeds will not only enter the European market — they will become a full-fledged part of the common agricultural space without repeated certifications and other barriers. At the same time, there are more reasons to consider the EU as a stable direction for sales and to be included in the European supply chain and planning of seed production for international markets. If earlier Ukrainian producers mainly focused on the domestic market or individual countries of Eastern Europe, now they have the entire European Union in front of them. This is especially important for the development of the production of sunflower, soybean, and sugar beet crops — as a growing and valuable asset of Ukraine,” she said.

Tags: seeds, sunseed, rapeseed, Ukraine, EU, soybean