In the first six months of this year, the export of Ukrainian agro-industrial products to EU countries increased by 10%, reaching nearly four billion euros. This was reported by the Ukrainian Club of Agrarian Business (UCAB).
Ukraine has already fully utilized the annual quotas for tax-free agro-exports to the EU for seven products: honey, grains and flour, processed starch, processed tomatoes, grape and apple juice, poultry, and eggs. The quota for two product groups has not yet been used up: sugar and corn.
The sugar quota for the EU was not used due to shortages in the Ukrainian market, and for corn because of high demand from China and the redirection of corn volumes through this sales channel.
According to the monthly report, last year Ukraine became the fourth-largest exporter of agricultural products to the European Union, after the United Kingdom, Brazil, and the United States.
According to UCAB, exports to the EU are now back to the 2019 level, after a decline of over ten percent in 2020. In that year, Ukraine closed eleven quotas for tax-free exports for products including honey, sugar, grains and flour, processed starch, eggs, corn, and poultry.
In 2020 the quota for eggs was fully used. The quota for wheat deliveries was only used up to 78% in 2020, although it had been fully used in 2019. UCAB reports that the situation with butter is more critical: in 2020 only 6% of the allocated quota was used, whereas last year it was fully utilized.