FT: EU intends to impose significantly higher tariffs on imports from Ukraine

Union The European Union plans to introduce higher tariffs in the coming weeks import from Ukraine – the Financial Times reports on Wednesday. The decision to end the current trade arrangements were made when Poland took the lead in the activities protecting EU farmers – say diplomats quoted by the FT.

Arrangements that allow the import of most Ukrainian goods to the EU duty-free expire on June 6. The EU plans to replace them with transitional arrangements, while simultaneously conducting talks on a new trade agreement. Work on it may last even until October.

According to diplomats quoted by the British daily, "the proposal transitional, recently presented to the EU Member States, drastically would reduce duty-free quotas for agricultural products." According to the FT's interlocutors, the current duty-free import is a "lifeline for Ukrainian farmers and (state) budget."

The newspaper recalls that the introduction in 2022 (when it started) a full-scale war between Russia and Ukraine - PAP) the duty-free system concerned primarily all cheap Ukrainian poultry, wheat and sugar. Most of these products were transported through the territory of EU countries to Africa and Asia. This sparked protests among Polish and French farmers who blamed Ukrainian exports for lower domestic prices.

The Ukrainian authorities estimate that the return to the pre-war trade conditions war would reduce the country's revenues by about 3.5 billion euros per year.

According to two EU diplomats, the transitional measures would consist of dividing the annual duty-free quota into 12 monthly quotas, which is intended to limit imports while the talks are ongoing.

As calculated, this will have the greatest impact on imports. corn (forecasted decrease from 4.7 million tons to 650 thousand tons), sugar (forecasted decrease from 109 thousand tons to 40.7 thousand tons) and poultry (forecasted drop from 57.1 thousand tons to 40 thousand tons). (PAP)

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