Ukraine is exhausting its tariff-free quotas for honey, corn and chicken supplies to the European Union, European Commissioner for Agriculture Janusz Wojciechowski said at a conference after the Council of Agricultural Ministers meeting in Brussels on Monday.
“I am pleased that today, during the discussion on Ukraine, member states generally expressed positive views on the new autonomous trade measures and on the safeguard measures introduced. It was the initiative of the European Commissioner for Agriculture to introduce these import limits, and they are working. They were activated for three products – sugar, eggs and oats. We are observing the situation with other sensitive products. Honey, whose exports have already reached 89% of the limits, corn – 67%, and chicken – 59%,” he said.
Wojciechowski emphasized that European politicians’ accusations against the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy that it is aimed at reducing domestic production and further increasing dependence on imported products are unfounded. The EU has been and will remain the largest exporter of agricultural products in the world, he assured.
According to the European Commissioner, the EU’s agricultural trade surplus in 2023 reached a record EUR 70 billion. This year, this record may be broken, as in the first quarter alone, the EU’s trade surplus with third countries already amounted to EUR 18 billion.
