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The EU has won a brief contract with Ukraine to boost food exports to war-torn countries with a deal aimed at soothing the bloc’s powerful farm lobby.
The partners will renew the front-line free trade agreement by Ukraine lowering tariffs on imports. It also agreed to match EU farm production standards in regions such as animal welfare and pesticides by 2028.
The move follows years of protest by farmers from neighboring countries who claimed Ukrainian products were flooded with markets after Brussels moved to support Kiev’s economy when Russia invaded its neighbors.
Countries, including Hungary and Poland, have continued to ban imports of some Ukrainians despite pressure from Brussels, according to EU officials.
EU trade commissioner Malossyvchovich said the agreement was “the best possible outcome under difficult geopolitical conditions.”
While showing support for Ukraine by lowering some EU tariffs, the agreement “is also a response to concerns expressed by our member states, farmers and food producers,” he said.
The EU abolished allocations and tariffs on Ukrainian imports in June 2022 to support the economy, following a full-scale invasion of Russia and blockade of the Black Sea, a route for exporting most of Ukrainian agricultural products.
However, after protesting in countries including Poland, Bulgaria and France, it has placed restrictions on several major products, such as sugar, wheat and eggs.
Polish farmer protesting Ukrainian grain imports in 2024 ©Omar Marques/Anadolu via Getty Images
On June 6, in a temporary move ahead of the speech on the final contract, it reintroduced front tariffs and quota levels.
Sefcovic said the quota will increase but it is below historic trade volume to “ensure stability in the EU market.”
There are also protection clauses that reduce imports that create “severe difficulties” for member states.
The agricultural agency led by agricultural lobby group Copa-Cogeca said it would need to review final details of the proposed agreement. This must be approved by Member States and Kyiv.
“While we are actively looking at some aspects presented today regarding the integrity of standards and protective mechanisms, including impacts on the member state level, we continue to be concerned about the consequences of protecting sensitive sectors and the potential exclusion of some products, such as barley and ethanol, from such mechanisms,” they said.
Ukraine wants to join the bloc and has already agreed to meet its food standards.
Mykhailo Bno-Airian, the Ukrainian Federation’s special trade representative, said he expects export Quotas to increase by around 20-30%.
“We are not EU producers, but we are competing with EU exporters such as Brazil and Thailand. That should be considered by the true liberalization of trade.”
He also asked for details. “For Ukrainian businesses, there needs to be predictability,” he said.
The Ukrainian Agribusiness Club stated: “The new arrangement is very likely to still mean a net loss for Ukrainian agrifood producers, whose sales to Europe continue to form a large portion of the export revenue of the country’s economy during the war.
Bilateral trade was worth 67 billion euros in 2024, and both sides first signed trade agreements, starting with 26 billion euros in 2016. Last year, the EU had a trade surplus of 18 billion euros per year in trade with Kyiv.
