The tenth annual meeting of the Ukraine-EU Association Committee in Trade (ACTA) was held in Brussels, where issues related to Ukraine’s export duties on soybeans and rapeseed, as well as temporary restrictions on the export of unprocessed timber, were discussed, according to the Ministry of Economy, Environment, and Agriculture.
Ukraine informed its partners that a 10% export duty on soybeans and rapeseed was introduced in 2025 to support the development of agricultural processing within the country. At the same time, agricultural producers who export their own products are completely exempt from paying duties. Therefore, the mechanism introduced does not create additional financial costs for them.
“It is precisely through the proceeds from export duties on soybeans and rapeseed that the state will fill a special budget fund, from which programs to support agricultural producers are financed. First and foremost, these are programs for frontline territories, as well as grants for processing, greenhouses, orchards, compensation for agricultural equipment, insurance against military risks, and other key instruments. This allows us to maintain support for farmers even in wartime,” emphasized Deputy Minister of Economy, Environment, and Agriculture Taras Vysotsky.
The meeting participants also discussed decisions on regulating timber exports, including a temporary ban on the export of unprocessed timber (except pine) and the establishment of zero quotas until the end of 2025.
The Ukrainian side stressed that these measures are aimed at meeting the needs of defense and critical infrastructure, as well as reducing risks to the environment in wartime. At the same time, these measures prevent a shortage of raw materials on the domestic market.
It was separately noted that the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine is considering draft laws on the formation of an updated timber market model, taking into account security challenges.
The Ukrainian side stressed the importance of continuing an open dialogue with the EU on all temporary measures that the state is applying during the period of martial law. At the same time, maintaining access for Ukrainian products to the European market remains one of the key factors for economic stability and support for national production.
The Ukraine-EU Association Committee in Trade Composition (ACTC) was established in accordance with Article 465 (4) of the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the EU to consider issues related to Section IV “Trade and Trade-Related Matters” of the Association Agreement. The CATS operates in accordance with the rules of procedure approved by Decision No. 1/2014 of the Association Council between Ukraine and the EU of 15 December 2014 “On the adoption of the rules of procedure of the Association Council, the Association Committee and its subcommittees”.
The Trade Committee meets annually and includes representatives from Ukraine and the European Commission.
As reported, a 10% export duty on soybeans and rapeseed for traders has been in effect in Ukraine since September 4, 2025. Agricultural producers who export their own products, or agricultural cooperatives that export the products of their members, are exempt from this duty, provided that the origin of the goods is documented. Until 2030, the duty will be reduced by 1% each year until it reaches 5%.
The Cabinet of Ministers has temporarily banned the export of unprocessed wood (except pine) until December 31, 2025, setting a zero quota for its export. This is done to provide the domestic market with raw materials, support Ukrainian woodworking enterprises, and stabilize the industry.
For the third time, the state-owned enterprise “Forests of Ukraine” held an exchange auction with the possibility of concluding forward contracts for the first half of 2026 for a period of six months at a fixed price for the purchase of forest products, as a result of which 100% of the volume put up for auction was contracted, the press service of the state-owned enterprise reported.
“Forests of Ukraine” recalled that it put up for auction 465 lots with a volume of 1.4 million cubic meters of forest products (35% of the planned volume of half-yearly timber harvesting for commercial sale) and informed market participants in advance about the volume and structure of the lots.
“Both firewood and roundwood were sold at 100% of the volumes put up for auction,” the statement said.
The company set the starting prices at the auction at the level of the starting prices for the fourth quarter of 2025, which turned out to be significantly lower than the current sales prices. The average selling price for commercial pine in the fourth quarter was UAH 5,900/cubic meter, while the starting price for forward trading was UAH 3,900/cubic meter. Industrial firewood (PV) from coniferous species was sold for UAH 2.3 thousand/cubic meter, while the starting price was UAH 1.3 thousand/cubic meter.
During the auction, commercial pine rose in price to UAH 6.2 thousand/cubic meter, and PV firewood from coniferous species rose to UAH 2.4 thousand/cubic meter. Compared to the general auction in the fourth quarter, beech rose the most in price, to almost UAH 7 thousand/cubic meter (+52%).
The State Enterprise “Forests of Ukraine” assured that it would ensure the delivery of all timber sold under forward contracts. As of November 17, the fulfillment of forward contracts for the second half of 2025 is 75% and corresponds to the planned indicator.
As for supplying firewood to energy companies, the state-owned enterprise is a regular participant in tender procedures for the purchase of wood for state customers in accordance with the Law “On Public Procurement.”
Lesy Ukrainy has attracted the attention of energy-generating enterprises, as foresters are ready to supply more than 1 million cubic meters of logging residues for their needs.
The state-owned enterprise added that more than 40% of the firewood has already been sold to the population and social facilities at fixed prices for the heating period.
Exports of timber and timber products from Ukraine since the beginning of 2025 amounted to 1.42 million tons, worth $671.8 million, which is 6% or 81.7 thousand tons more than in the same period of 2024, according to the State Customs Service (SCS). The State Customs Service (DMS) press service reported this.
The agency noted that pine products accounted for the largest share of exports (68.6% of the total), followed by spruce (19%) and oak (6.6%).
At the same time, since the beginning of 2025, customs authorities have detected violations amounting to more than UAH 31.4 million. In early May 2025, in cooperation with the State Forestry Agency, a whole scheme of illegal export of 2.9 thousand cubic meters of timber worth UAH 13.6 million was uncovered. In all 98 cases, business entities from one of the country’s regions submitted certificates of origin for timber issued for other consignments of goods to the customs authorities for the export of timber. In all cases, reports on customs violations were drawn up against the entrepreneurs, according to the State Customs Service.
To systematically eliminate the conditions for such violations, the State Customs Service, together with the Ministry of Environmental Protection and the State Forestry Agency, is preparing proposals for legislative changes that will provide customs authorities with automatic access to information submitted by exporters to obtain certificates.
The State Customs Service added that since the start of the full-scale invasion, confiscated timber worth UAH 14.2 million has been transferred to the defenders of Ukraine.
The State Enterprise “Forests of Ukraine” has won a tender of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine for the supply of almost 28 thousand cubic meters of wood, the company’s CEO Yuriy Bolokhovets said on Facebook.
“The bidding took place on Prozorro. The final price was UAH 3,750 per cubic meter. According to the terms of the contract, the supplier fully ensures the delivery of products. That is why the price is slightly higher than at exchange auctions,” he wrote.
The Director General added that in 2024, SE “Forests of Ukraine” provided the Defense Forces with almost 75 thousand cubic meters free of charge and fulfilled all the requests received by the company from military units.
“We believe it is right that the timber will be supplied to the military directly from the manufacturer under the tender procedure. This will allow us to optimize budget expenditures, guarantee the quality and timeliness of deliveries,” Bolokhovets said and added that since 2023, the State Enterprise “Forests of Ukraine” has provided the Armed Forces with almost 200 thousand cubic meters of lumber and raw wood worth more than UAH 330 million.
As reported, Ukraine launched a forestry reform in 2016. As part of it, the sale of unprocessed timber at electronic auctions has already been introduced. Since 2021, an interactive map of wood processing facilities has been operating in a test mode in a number of regions.
The industry has implemented the Forest in a Smartphone project, which contains a list of logging tickets for timber harvesting and allows you to check the legality of logging on the agency’s online map.
On June 1, 2023, Ukraine launched a pilot for the electronic issuance of logging tickets and certificates of origin of timber. In addition, the State Enterprise “Forests of Ukraine” has launched a pilot project to procure timber harvesting services through the electronic platform Prozorro.
The sale of wood without electronic centralized records will be considered illegal from April 2020 and will be subject to additional checks by law enforcement authorities, Head of the State Forest Resources Agency Andriy Zablotsky has said. “95% of all wood logged by forestry enterprises in Ukraine is subject to electronically record-keeping. With dry figures, this means that 526 permanent forest users are connected to the electronic centralized records, of which 341 are state-owned enterprises, organizations and institutions, 144 are municipal enterprises and 41 are forest users who belong to other organizational and legal forms of management,” he wrote on his Facebook page.
According to Zablotsky, the remaining 5% are individual municipal and private enterprises that are in the process of training and connecting to the electronic centralized records. He reminded that previously only forestry enterprises managed by the State Forest Resources Agency worked in the electronic record-keeping system.
The head of the State Forest Resources Agency said that access to the unified public system of electronic record-keeping of wood was provided to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the National Police, the State Fiscal Service, the Security Service of Ukraine and other public bodies so that they had the opportunity to verify the legality of wood transportation. The public can verify the legality of logging through the Forest in a Smartphone system and the legality of its transportation by tag number, consignment notes and the vehicle, he said.
“Starting in April, the sale of wood without electronic records will be considered unlawful and will be subject to additional checks by law enforcement agencies,” Zablotsky said.
The State Forest Resources Agency is also preparing amendments to the legislation regarding the criminalization of trade in illegally logged wood and the inaccuracy of information entered into the electronically record-keeping system.
In addition, according to the head of the State Forest Resources Agency, it is planned to resolve the issue of full certification of wood products, so that there are no legislative gaps when individual wood products are exported from Ukraine without certificates of origin.
“Often there are questions both from trading partners and from society that such products are made from wood of dubious origin,” Zablotsky said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has instructed the Cabinet of Ministers before November 1, 2019 to introduce the mandatory wood electronic recording and design and submit to parliament a bill on the rules of selling wood at tenders.
According to a posting on the website of the president, the decree on some measures to preserve forests and rational use of forestry resources was signed on Tuesday.
According to the decree, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine is tasked to develop and submit to the Verkhovna Rada a bill approving the rules of selling timber on a competitive basis and introducing the unified public system of electronic wood records for all permanent forest users, a bill introducing criminal and administrative liability for the non-provision of information, provision of false information to the unified public system of electronic wood records.
The Cabinet of Ministers was ordered to develop and approve the procedure for monitoring domestic consumption of domestic unprocessed wood in pursuance of Article 4 of the law of Ukraine on the specifics of the public regulation of operation of business entities related to the sale and export of timber.
The government is to ensure access to information about wood flow in the open data format.
Before November 1, 2019, the government is to introduce electronic wood records by state-owned enterprises managed by the Defense Ministry of Ukraine, and ensure the publication of monthly reports on the status of implementation and operation of the electronic wood records system at these state-owned enterprises.
The regional administrations, the Kyiv City Administration are tasked to toughen control over the use and protection of forests, including take measures to counter illegal logging in accordance with the legislation.
