Latest news with #UkrainianAgriculture
Russia Today
23-05-2025
- Business
- Russia Today
EU to roll back Ukraine trade perks
EU member states have approved the reimposition of import quotas on Ukrainian agricultural goods, European Commission spokesperson Balazs Ujvari has said, as cited by Euroactiv. The current duty-free trade regime is set to expire on June 5. Brussels abolished tariffs and quotas on Ukrainian agricultural produce following the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in February 2022. The bloc adopted special regulations, known as Autonomous Trade Measures (ATMs), aimed at enabling grain and other farm products from Ukraine to reach global markets. However, the influx of cheap Ukrainian produce into Eastern European countries sparked widespread protests among local farmers, particularly in Poland. The latest move, endorsed by a majority of EU nations at a meeting on Thursday morning, introduces a set of 'transitional measures' that will phase out the ATMs and reimpose certain trade controls. Some restrictions have already been reintroduced over the past year, targeting commodities such as oats, sugar, and eggs. The selective reinstatements came in response to months of protests in Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, and other countries neighboring Ukraine, where farmers said they could no longer compete with tariff-exempt goods. Politico previously reported, citing a draft act, that the EU was considering replacing ATMs with revised limits under Ukraine's existing trade framework with the bloc, known as the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area (DCFTA), rather than extending the measures on a yearly basis. Commenting on the latest news, the chair of the Ukrainian Parliament's economic affairs committee, Dmitry Natalukha, told Euractiv that halting the ATMs could cost Kiev more than €3 billion ($3.4 billion), which he said is equal to around 70% of the country's projected total economic growth for the current year.
ABC News
21-05-2025
- General
- ABC News
Sydney commuters face second evening of train delays
Photo shows Uncertain Future: An elderly Ukrainian man and woman till the soil in their garden Has Video Duration: 2 minutes 26 seconds . 2 m 26 s
Russia Today
14-05-2025
- Business
- Russia Today
EU to slap tariffs on Ukrainian imports
The EU is preparing tariffs on Ukrainian agricultural imports when the current duty-free trade regime expires next month, Financial Times reported on Wednesday, citing diplomatic sources. Brussels suspended import duties and quotas on Ukrainian exports to the EU in 2022 following the escalation of the Ukraine conflict. The Autonomous Trade Measures (ATMs) were extended last year and are set to expire on June 6. The EU previously said it would not prolong the tariff-free regime further, after cheap imports flooded Eastern European countries, sparking waves of farmer protests, most notably in Poland. Following the unrest, Brussels introduced an emergency mechanism which allowed tariffs to be reimposed on specific products such as eggs, poultry, sugar, oats, maize, and honey, if imports of these products exceeded average annual volumes. Being part of the ATMs, it is also set to expire in three weeks. The EU is currently working to review and update its overall free trade agreement with Ukraine, the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area (DCFTA). The bloc's officials have suggested that if the talks are not finalized by June 5, 'transitional measures' will be applied, to allow more time for negotiation. According to FT, Warsaw has asked Brussels to 'delay highly unpopular trade talks' with Kiev so as not to stir the sensitive issue ahead of a presidential election on Sunday to 'minimize the chances' that nationalist opposition candidate Karol Nawrocki will prevail. Nawrocki, who is backed by Poland's conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party, has capitalized on domestic discontent over Ukrainian agricultural imports and has been critical of the idea of Ukraine's integration into the EU and NATO. He is currently polling in second place ahead of the May 18 vote. The transitional proposal, recently sent to EU member states, 'would drastically cut the tariff-free quotas,' specifically on maize, poultry, wheat and sugar, FT cited unnamed diplomats as saying. The maize quota will drop on an annual basis from 4.7 million tonnes to 650,000 tonnes, with poultry falling from 57,110 to 40,000 and sugar from 109,000 to 40,700, according to the outlet. Ukraine's government estimates that the cancellation of free-trade quotas would reduce its revenues by about €3.5 billion ($3.9 billion) a year.
