EU plans to reduce duty-free quotas for Ukrainian agricultural products from June 6

The European Union may significantly limit the duty-free access of Ukrainian products to its market in the coming weeks. The Financial Times reports on this.

The decision was made due to the intention to end the duty-free regime effective from 2022.

As noted, these steps were a reaction to pressure from Poland, which demanded to protect EU farmers. Although there is a free trade agreement between Ukraine and the EU, the final duties were canceled in 2022. Now the European Commission plans to introduce so-called “transitional measures” while the agreement is being updated.

The document presented to the member countries provides for a significant reduction of duty-free quotas for Ukrainian agricultural products. The biggest restrictions may affect the export of corn, sugar, honey and poultry. So, they plan to reduce the feed quota for corn from 4.7 million tons to 650 thousand, for sugar – from 109 thousand to 40.7 thousand, and for poultry – from 57.1 thousand to 40 thousand tons.

Farmers in Poland, France and other EU countries have been complaining for a long time that Ukrainian imports lead to lower domestic prices. This issue became a key factor in Polish politics before the presidential elections, which is why Warsaw asked the European Commission to suspend trade negotiations with Kyiv.

The European Commission confirmed that the renewal of the agreement is not planned, as the trade agreement is currently being reviewed. If the negotiations are not completed by June 6, temporary restrictions will be introduced, including the monthly distribution of the annual quota.

The head of the European Parliament’s trade committee, Bernd Lange, said that this is “really a very bad signal for Ukraine.”

Tags: Ukraine, corn, EU, Poland, sugar, agricultural products, restrictions