On 16 October, the Council of Europe agreed on its position on an amendment to the EU deforestation regulation, postponing its implementation date by 12 months to December 2025. Despite this delay, the EU continues to pursue its "green" agenda, and given the European market's critical importance to Ukrainian agricultural exports, Ukrainian producers and suppliers must understand the consequences of this regulation. This topic was detailed in a presentation by Volodymyr Pugachov, Executive and Regional Director for Eastern Europe at the Association "Donau Soja", during an online meeting of Trend&Hedge Club on 23 October.

According to the expert, the uniqueness of the regulation lies in the fact that, while it directly applies to companies that are legal entities within the European Union, it also requires them to take specific actions to obtain confirmations from their suppliers outside the EU regarding compliance with the regulation’s standards. Currently, only six products, including soybean, fall under this regulation.

“Companies supplying these products (in Ukraine, this pertains to soybean) must provide their importer with the following information: the geo-coordinates of the fields, confirmation of the absence of deforestation on those fields since 2020, traceability of each batch of product back to the field where it was grown, proof of legal production within the country, information on the country of production, and the harvest date,” explained V. Pugachov.

He also noted that the requirement for proof of legal production could raise questions about genetically modified (GMO) soybean in Ukraine. “Currently, there are no registered genetically modified organisms or varieties of GMO soybean, as production does not comply with national legislation. It is highly unlikely that such products will be able to be exported to the European Union under this regulation,” the expert clarified.

Furthermore, he mentioned that if the regulation is successfully implemented, it could eventually expand to cover all agricultural products.