The European Commission has published further details on quotas for some Ukrainian agricultural products under the revised EU-Ukraine Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area (DCFTA) agreement.
The commission promised no trade restrictions for some non-sensitive agriproducts under the agreement, which was reached in principle on 30 June. The deal still requires technical fine-tuning before formal endorsement of the reviewed DCFTA. Approval requires a qualified majority of 15 of the 27 EU states, representing 65pc of the overall population.
For those products subject to restrictions, the commission noted tariff rate quota (TRQ) increases for poultry meat to 120,000 t/yr from the original DCFTA TRQ of 90,000 t/yr. For beef meat, there is no change from the original DCFTA TRQ at 12,000 t/yr, neither for pork meat at 40,000 t/yr. Sugar increases to 100,000 t/yr from the current DCFTA TRQ of 20,000 t/yr.
Common wheat and pellets, excluding flour, increase to 1.3mn t/yr from 1mn t/yr, maize and pellets to 1mn t/yr from 650,000 t/yr, and barley and pellets to 450,000 t/yr from 350,000 t/yr. Whole milk powder, fermented milk and food preparations are fully liberalised. Ethyl alcohol increases to 125,000 t/yr from 100,000 t/yr.
The commission earlier noted that new market access is conditional on Ukraine gradually aligning with relevant EU production standards. The commission also talked of a robust safeguard clause, including the possibility for the commission to propose safeguards for single-member states. And both sides will explore measures to help Ukraine's exporters reach traditional markets in third countries.
Most EU trade with Ukraine is liberalised and the revision maintains around 40 TRQs. Market access has improved for the most sensitive products compared with 2016 DCFTA volumes, but this increase still takes into account "sensitivities", a senior EU official said. The agreement envisages an assessment on production standards with a broader review of TRQs.
