A mechanism for confirming exporters as commodity producers, which will allow them to avoid paying the recently introduced 10% duty on exports of soybeans and rapeseed, should be in place by the end of next week, said Deputy Minister of Economy, Environment, and Agriculture of Ukraine Denys Bashlyk.
“It will be as convenient as possible, the software is already 90% ready. The Cabinet of Ministers will make a decision next week,” he said at the Forbes Agro conference in Kyiv on Friday.
Bashlyk noted that there are currently situations where producers export and are forced to pay duties because there is no such confirmation mechanism.
According to him, the confirmation mechanism is planned to be implemented through the state agricultural register so that it does not take too much time, does not require “a million references” and the need to confirm each batch.
As for the duties already paid by commodity producers, the government is preparing amendments to the law on the state budget for 2025, which will allow the return of duties already paid, the deputy minister said.
In general, he noted that the Ministry of Economy is against the abolition of the 10% duty on exports of soybeans and rapeseed.
“We understand the risks that farmers may face, but it should be noted that there is another side to this story — the creation of a separate fund to which the paid duties will be transferred. And so, should the abolition of these so-called soybean amendments be on the agenda today? No, it should not,” Bashlyk said.
Farmers at the Forbes Agro conference criticized the introduction of this duty because, in their opinion, processors at the beginning of the war, due to logistics problems, received high profits at the expense of agricultural producers, and now processing does not require such privileges and should pay the market price for raw materials, competing with importers. According to the speakers, these duties will result in a reduction in rapeseed and soybean crops and a deterioration in crop rotation.
The head of Ukraine’s largest oil producer, Kernel, Yevgen Osipov, canceled his planned interview at the conference, and the founding editor of Forbes Ukraine, Volodymyr Fedorin, who was supposed to conduct the interview, said that Osipov did not like the publication’s article criticizing the duty.
As reported, Law No. 13157, signed by the president on September 2, stipulates that agricultural producers and cooperatives that export their own products will be exempt from paying duties. However, due to the lack of clear rules for documentary confirmation of the origin of goods, the mechanism does not actually work, and the export of oilseeds has been largely blocked.
A number of agricultural associations, including the All-Ukrainian Agrarian Council (VAR), the Ukrainian Agribusiness Club (UAC), the Ukrainian Grain Association (UGA), the Ukrainian Agrarian Confederation, as well as the European Business Association and the American Chamber of Commerce, have appealed to the Cabinet of Ministers and the Verkhovna Rada to repeal the law establishing a 10% duty on exports of soybeans and rapeseed as soon as possible.
On September 19, MP Yaroslav Zheleznyak (Voice faction) registered a corresponding bill No. 14055 on the repeal of the “soybean and rapeseed amendments.”
