The Ukrainian Agrarian Council together with the leading farmers associations that are members of the Ukrainian Agrarian Forum (UAF) - the Agrarian Union of Ukraine, the Ukrainian Agribusiness Club, the Ukrainian Poultry Union, and the Ukrainian Agrarian Confederation - appealed to Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal to resolve the critical situation with the export of Ukrainian agri-food products and to take a number of measures to support the agricultural sector. 

The appeal notes that Russia's full-scale armed aggression against Ukraine has led to an almost complete blockade of Ukrainian seaports, which has put Ukraine's agricultural exports at risk of being completely shut down.

The negative consequences of this situation were to some extent mitigated by the EU's implementation of the Solidarity Roads initiative, the temporary suspension of import tariffs and quotas on Ukrainian products, and the EU-Ukraine Agreement on Freight Transport by Road.

At the same time, representatives of the agricultural sector are deeply concerned about the recent initiatives of some EU members and the European Commission, which jeopardize the implementation of the above decisions and pose a danger of destroying the Ukrainian agricultural sector. In particular:

1) The actual destruction of the Solidarity Roads initiative. Geographically, all the new logistics routes that were established under the initiative pass through the territory of five EU members, which recently initiated the European Commission's ban on imports of Ukrainian grain to certain EU members. As a result, not only the export of Ukrainian grain to certain EU members collapsed, but also its transit through the territory of these states.

2) The risk of a return to the permit-based procedure for granting Ukrainian carriers the right to carry out road transportation in the EU. In May 2023, Polish carriers blocked the possibility of any trucks crossing the state border of Ukraine with Poland, demanding that Ukrainian carriers return to the permit procedure for international road freight transportation through the EU. By blackmailing with physical blocking of Ukrainian exports, carriers of one of the EU members demanded, de facto, termination of the Agreement concluded between Ukraine and the EU, which provides for the liberalization of freight transportation by roads. Unfortunately, this is not the only such a case.

3) Continued existence of decisions at the level of individual EU member states to ban imports and transit of Ukrainian grain. Not all EU members have canceled their national decisions to unilaterally ban imports and transit of Ukrainian grain (for example, Hungary has not yet done so).

4) The emergence of practices in the EU that violate the terms of the Association Agreement and discriminate against Ukraine. According to the Association Agreement, neither party shall impose any prohibitions or restrictions on the import of any product of the other party.

5) The rhetoric of European officials regarding the further introduction of quotas and investigations against Ukrainian agri-food products. On June 5, 2023, the European Commission decided to extend the ban on Ukrainian grain exports to the EU until September 15, 2023. The day after, the European Commissioner for Agriculture stated that, in addition to the ban, the EU needed additional safeguard measures against imports of Ukrainian poultry meat.

6) Risks of prolongation and expansion of bans on imports of Ukrainian agricultural and food products to the EU after September 15, 2023. Unfortunately, the governments of some EU members continue to prolong the ban on imports of Ukrainian grain, as well as to expand the list of Ukrainian agricultural and food products as a subject to such a ban.

7) Application of enhanced control regime to Ukrainian agri-food products by some EU members. For the last few months, cargoes with Ukrainian agricultural products have been subjected to checks by EU members when crossing the border. As a result, the duration of cargo clearance has increased and the number of cases of minor discrepancies (e.g., broken glass containers or the presence of some mold elements in the meal) has increased too.

8) The displacement of Ukrainian producers from the domestic market. As of June 2, 2023, Ukraine has supplied the EU with all kinds of products worth €30 billion as part of the Solidarity Roads initiative. During the same period, the EU supplied EUR 51 billion worth of its products to Ukraine (i.e., 1.7 times more than Ukraine supplied to the EU). Thus, Ukraine has begun to transform from a supplier of products to the EU into a market for European products. This is confirmed by the successful increase in 2022 by a number of EU member states in exports of their agri-food products to Ukraine (Bulgaria +26%, Poland +16%, Slovakia +30%, etc.).

9) The Government of Ukraine imposed a ban on sugar exports. On May 30, 2023, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine adopted Resolution No. 545. Due to this decision, the ban on the export of Ukrainian grain to the EU (established by the European Commission) was supplemented by a ban on the export of sugar (established by the decision of the Ukrainian Government). According to the signatories of the letter, this step of the Ukrainian government will lead to negative consequences for domestic producers and processors of agricultural products, including: non-fulfillment of foreign economic contracts, loss of solvent foreign markets, reputation of unreliable suppliers, financial losses.

10) Significant deterioration of access to foreign markets significantly reduces the possibilities for financing the recovery of the agricultural sector. No other EU member has faced what Ukrainian farmers are currently facing. At present, the closure of each individual foreign market for a new commodity item for any reason has no less devastating consequences than the full-scale military aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine.

Given the critical situation with the export of Ukrainian agri-food products, the agricultural community calls on the Prime Minister of Ukraine to take measures to support the agricultural sector of Ukraine, in particular:

• ensure that the European Union cancels all restrictive measures imposed on imports of Ukrainian grain before September 15, 2023;
• prevent the introduction of new and prolongation of existing restrictions on imports of Ukrainian agri-food products to the EU;
• take equivalent measures with respect to imports to Ukraine of products from certain EU Members that have imposed restrictions on Ukrainian agricultural products and do not comply with their obligations to cancel restrictions and ensure the transit of these products;
• revise the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine Resolution No. 545, which banned sugar exports;
• raise the following issues with the European Commission: ensuring unimpeded transit of Ukrainian exports through the territory of EU members, as it is provided by the Solidarity Roads initiative; providing financial support to Ukrainian agricultural exporters affected by the bans.
• ensure that the State Service of Food Safety and Consumer Protection of Ukraine strengthens control over the quality and safety of agri-food products imported to Ukraine from certain EU members;
• consider the feasibility of defending Ukrainian economic interests through such instruments as recourse to arbitration within the WTO and under the Association Agreement;
• launch an investigation into the facts of damage to Ukraine's economy under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade as of 1994.

Also, on behalf of the Ukrainian Agri Council and all the signatories of the letter, we propose to hold a meeting with representatives of the leading associations to coordinate further steps on the part of the Government and Ukrainian agrarian and food business in response to the concerns set out in this letter.