EU reaches interim deal to extend tariff-free Ukrainian agricultural imports

The European Union has reached a provisional agreement on granting Ukrainian food producers' tariff-free access to its markets until June 2025, the European Parliament said in a statement on Wednesday.

The decision matches a European Commission proposal in January to suspend duties and quotas on Ukrainian farm produce until then, with an "emergency brake" for poultry, eggs and sugar, meaning that tariffs would be imposed if imports exceeded the average levels of 2022 and 2023.

European lawmakers on Wednesday extended this list to include oats, maize, groats and honey.

The Parliament also said that it has attained commitments from the Commission to take action if Ukrainian wheat imports surge.

The reference period for triggering the emergency brake will be 2022 and 2023, indicating that tariffs would be re-imposed if imports of these products exceeded the average volumes of these two years, it said.

The European Parliament negotiators also ensured that the Commission would act within 14 days, instead of 21 days, if trigger levels for the automatic safeguards were reached.

The European Parliament last week backed amendments to add grain and honey to the emergency brake and to set the threshold at the average of 2021, 2022 and 2023, a lower level than the January proposal because 2021 was before Russia's invasion, when Ukrainian agricultural exports to the EU were curbed by tariffs and quotas.