EU to Cancel Trade Visa-Free Regime for Ukraine from June 5: Which Agricultural Products Will Be Affected

Starting June 5, the European Union will terminate the preferential regime of autonomous trade measures for Ukraine. This was announced by Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, whose country holds the EU presidency until July. According to him, the border between Ukraine and the EU will revert to pre-war rules.

This is reported by AgroReview

“We are returning to the situation that existed before the war in terms of border regulations,” said Donald Tusk.

More Goods Under Quotas and Limited Export Volumes

After the end of the “trade visa-free regime,” the quotas for importing Ukrainian agricultural products to the EU will expand from seven to thirty product positions. This was reported by Oleksandra Avramenko, a representative of the Ukrainian Agribusiness Club. From now on, Ukrainian exporters will only be able to use 7/12 of the annual quotas that were in effect before the start of the full-scale war. This corresponds to the seven months remaining until the end of the year for each product position.

Such changes will significantly impact export volumes: wheat supplies will decrease from 6 million tons to 1 million tons, corn from 4.7 million tons to 650 thousand tons, and sugar to 20 thousand tons.

Further Review of Trade Conditions Expected in Summer

According to Oleksandra Avramenko, internal political processes in EU countries influenced the decision to review the trade regime with Ukraine. The European Commission will only be able to return to discussing this issue in the summer, within the framework of the association agreement between Ukraine and the EU.

At the same time, Donald Tusk emphasized that Poland seeks to support Ukraine in its war against Russia, but this assistance should not negatively affect Polish producers.