EU Rejects Ukraine's Wheat Import Quota Request

Ukraine's wheat exports to the EU have hit a snag as the European Commission rejected the country's request for an increased import quota. According to Oleksandra Avramenko, head of the Ukrainian Committee on European Integration, Ukraine approached the commission with a proposal to boost the wheat quota but was met with a negative response.

The reason given by the commission is that trade conditions between Ukraine and the EU were revised last year, making it unnecessary to increase the quota. However, Avramenko pointed out that there are separate EU quotas available for third countries under WTO rules, which Ukrainian wheat producers can utilize alongside other suppliers.

One such quota amounts to 2.3 million tonnes, with a duty of €12 per tonne on preferential wheat supplies. Although this quota has been hardly utilized, the main issue remains that the EU quota specifically for Ukrainian wheat, amounting to around 1.3 million tonnes, has already been fully utilised.

Outside of these quotas, the duty of 95€/t significantly complicates further exports of Ukrainian wheat to the European market.