The EU will reduce imports of Ukrainian grain and sugar by 70-80%

Grain. Photo: UNIAN

The European Union is imposing new restrictions on imports of Ukrainian agricultural products, including wheat, sugar, barley and poultry. The quotas approved on 4 July are significantly lower than the duty-free exports of recent years.

This is the EU's response to protests by farmers who complained about competition from Ukrainian goods, Reuters reports.

Key changes:

• Wheat — the annual quota will be 1.3 million tonnes. This is 70-80% less than in previous years (4.5-6.5 million tonnes).
• Sugar — the new quota is 100 thousand tonnes, which is four times less than the quota-free imports of recent years (400-500 thousand tonnes).
• Barley — the quota will increase to 450 thousand tonnes (previously 350 thousand tonnes).
• Poultry — the quota has been increased to 120,000 tonnes (previously 90,000 tonnes).

Ukrainian agricultural associations have already criticised the decision. They see the new quota system «as a step backwards», which is detrimental to Ukrainian exports.

Despite the reduction, the new quotas still exceed the level of the pre-war free trade agreement of 2016. At the same time, some EU countries will be able to impose additional restrictions if they consider their market to be destabilised.

Ukrainian traders believe that exports to North Africa and Asia could compensate for some of the losses.

As a reminder, in the first four months of this year, Mykolaiv region reduced its exports and increased its imports. As a result, the region has a «negative balance».