OREANDA-NEWS Europe has returned import duties on a number of Ukrainian agricultural products. The reason for the restoration of the measure was the excess of import limits, with reference to the official journal of the European Union, RIA Novosti reports.

Tariffs for Ukrainian sugar and chicken eggs have been restored by the end of 2024. A month earlier, the European Commission returned import duties on Ukrainian oats.

In June 2022, the European Union suspended the collection of duties on products imported from Ukraine for a period of one year — this is how the association hoped to help Kiev increase exports. This measure has hurt local farmers, who have repeatedly complained about the inability to compete with cheap products supplied from abroad. So, in France, they complained about unfair competition from Ukraine. Despite the protests, at the end of May 2023, the duty-free import was extended for another year.

In order to support Ukraine and at the same time protect domestic markets, the regional authorities have provided for the possibility of an emergency return of quotas and duties on supplies if the flow of agricultural goods becomes excessive and threatens the stability of the community. The new agreement implies the possibility of early introduction of tariffs on chickens, eggs, sugar, oats, corn, all types of cereals and honey, if the volume of their imports to EU countries exceeds the average for the second half of 2021.

In April, the EU purchased food waste in Ukraine for a record 86 million euros in the history of their mutual trade. Compared with March, the indicator increased by almost a third — by 27 percent at once. Most of the deliveries in April were made up of cake and other solid waste, which is obtained during the extraction of vegetable fats or oils. Their share amounted to 71 percent of all Ukrainian food industry waste supplies to the EU.