The Verkhovna Rada has supported a bill to introduce a 10% export duty on soybeans, kohlrabi and rapeseed (crushed and uncrushed) with an annual 1% reduction in the rate by 2030, to 5%, MP Serhiy Labaziuk (For the Future parliamentary faction) said in a telegram channel.
The MP added that at the same time a special fund will be created – the State Fund for Support of Agricultural Producers, which, given the existing export volumes (without adjustment for a 10% decrease in value/volumes) of oilseeds, will amount to almost $500 million.
“But with the increase in processing, changes in export prices, and a decrease in the volume of raw materials, revenues will fall. And it will be difficult not to give part of the revenues to the state budget. Therefore, if we manage to raise UAH 3-5 billion for the fund, it will be a victory,” Labaziuk said.
MP Oleksiy Honcharenko (European Solidarity faction) clarified in a Telegram that 245 MPs supported the draft law.
“This is just a shame. They sneaked in the draft law on industrial pollution – duties for farmers. They promised to serve the people, but they serve schemes,” he commented on the document.
As reported, the “soybean amendments” are changes to the Tax Code of Ukraine introduced at the end of 2017. They concerned the procedure for VAT (value-added tax) refunds for soybean and rapeseed exports.
For several years in a row, Stepan Kapshuk, CEO of the Ukroliyaprom association, proposed to ban the export of 50% of the rapeseed crop from the country to increase the utilization of Ukrainian processing capacities, which, in particular in 2024, were significantly short of raw materials.
Subsequently, Dmytro Kysylevskyi, deputy chairman of the parliamentary committee on economic development, prepared draft law No. 13134, which, with amendment No. 40, provided for the introduction of a 10% export duty on rapeseed and soybeans. He argued that Ukrainian soybean and rapeseed processing plants are underutilized by 35%, and if they are used, Ukraine will receive an additional UAH 7.3 billion in state budget revenues to finance the Armed Forces, and an additional $238 million will allow for the construction of dozens of plants and the creation of thousands of new jobs.
A number of associations criticized the idea of the draft law “On Amendments to the Tax Code of Ukraine on Expanding Patient Access to Medicines Subject to Procurement by a Person Authorized to Make Procurement in the Healthcare Sector by Concluding Managed Access Agreements”, which provided for the imposition of duties on the export of soybeans and rapeseed from Ukraine. According to the business associations, they are discriminatory towards small and medium-sized producers, aim to increase the profits of processors at the expense of small and medium-sized farmers and violate the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement.
On June 18, the Verkhovna Rada did not support this initiative.
