Despite thorough checks on the origin of foreign fertilizers that are imported into Ukraine, no smuggled lot of Russian fertilizers from third countries was found. Such information was in the responses of the State fiscal service to the requests of MPs Maksym Polyakov and Ivan Miroshnichenko.

Customs officials reported that in 2018, 24 certificates of origin of goods of the form ST-1 were checked, but none of the inspections revealed cases of mineral fertilizers that are prohibited for import into the country.

"According to the results of the inspections, there were no cases of non-confirmation of the origin of mineral fertilizers," – it is said in response to MPs.

We remind that on December 7 at the boundary there was introduced an intensive control regime of all foreign parties of fertilizers. This was caused by the fact that there is allegedly a high threat of import of smuggled nitrogen fertilizers from Ukraine under the guise of fertilizers produced in other countries. This led to delays on the import border of products from Poland, Lithuania, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Bulgaria, Uzbekistan, Georgia, Turkey. In fact, all batches of mineral fertilizers imported into the customs territory of Ukraine are stopped for customs examination and taking samples and specimens of the goods in order to determine the country of origin of the goods. This leads to significant delays in fertilizers at the border, and hence the costs of their storage, which makes their imports unprofitable.

Market experts criticized customs practices from the very beginning of the intensified regime. For example, the chairman of the Agrochemical Union of Ukraine Sergey Ruban calculated that the supply of Russian fertilizers through the markets of third countries does not make sense, because it is economically unprofitable.

On December 21, Prime Minister Volodymyr Groisman said that he took the issue of blocking the import of mineral fertilizers under personal control. In response to the appeal of MPs, sent on the initiative of the Ukrainian Agri Council, Prime Minister instructed the First Vice Prime Minister, Minister of Finance, Acting Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food and chairman of the SFS to facilitate the unblocking of mineral fertilizer imports into Ukraine.

Despite the orders of the Prime Minister, as well as the lack of claims by customs officers, the regime of strengthened control continues to operate. The UAC draws attention to the fact that the practice of blocking imports of cheap imported fertilizers leads to a violation of the rules of fair competition and monopoly, resulting in higher prices for fertilizers in the domestic market. Thus, one third of the cost of agricultural products is the cost of fertilizers.