From June 6, the EU will return quotas not for 7, but for 30 Ukrainian agricultural products

On June 6, the autonomous trade measures (ATMs) introduced by the EU to support Ukraine after the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation will expire, and the DCFTA regime - the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area (DCFTA), established by the Association Agreement signed in 2014, will be restored. It provides for quotas for 30 types of Ukrainian products, including wheat, corn, sugar, tomato paste, dairy products, ethanol, pork, beef and other goods, - reports the Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Back in May last year, the European Commission warned that the "trade visa-free regime" (duty-free import of 7 types of agricultural products) would not be extended, but instead the trade part of the Association Agreement would be updated, so the situation was not unexpected. But Ukraine hoped for continued unlimited access to the EU market, instead of starting to prepare for the worst-case scenario last year.

The European Commission and Ukraine have agreed that the ATC will cease to operate from June 6, but Article 29 of the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement (DCFTA) will be revised in order to increase access of Ukrainian goods to the EU market and European goods to the Ukrainian market, - said Deputy Minister of Economy and Trade Representative of Ukraine Taras Kachka.

"However, due to a number of different circumstances, a decision on amendments to Article 29 has not yet been made, so I hope that it will be found as quickly as possible, and by that time Ukraine will not have problems with access to the EU market," added Kachka.

He stated that the trade situation is far from as optimistic and friendly as in other areas of cooperation with the EU. However, even the pre-war trade regime with the EU is "quite good", as it does not provide for duties on industrial goods and most agricultural goods.

"Yes, for the most interesting and sensitive goods for Ukraine, the ATZ helped a lot, both in terms of market access and transit, which was especially relevant until 2023, when the Black Sea ports were blocked and Ukraine exported its goods through neighboring countries," Kachka noted.

"Despite the fact that Ukraine has a fairly large trade deficit, and imports are almost twice as high as exports, it found a balance of trade with the EU in 2023-2024, which is now very important to maintain. Our approach is to leave the terms of trade as they are, at least for now, perhaps even freer, but at the same time controlled. And we are working quite constructively with the European Commission on this issue, but the final solution will be comprehensive to take into account all the nuances," the Ukrainian trade representative concluded.