On 01 Jun new EU tariffs come into force for the import of russian and belarusian grains, oilseeds and by-products. As Vincent Van Peteghem, Belgian minister for finance said, new tariffs aim to stop the imports of grain from russia and belarus into the EU in practice. These measures will therefore prevent the destabilization of the EU’s grain market, halt russian exports of illegally appropriated grain produced in the territories of Ukraine and prevent russia from using revenues from exports to the EU to fund its war of aggression against Ukraine.

During the GRAIN UKRAINE CONFERENCE on 30-31 May, ASAP Agri asked Taras Vysotskyi, First Deputy Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine, about the impact of this new measure may have on Ukrainian export of grains and oilseeds and new competition challenges on the markets of Egypt and Turkey for Ukrainian products.

Taras Vysotskyi: Ukrainian government asked EU Council to limit the access of russia to EU market and on 30 May we received confirmation that new tariffs will come into force on 01 Jun. Of course, the global market is united, and if there are fewer products in one market, there are more products available in the other. And thus Ukrainian goods can replace the russian. Anyway, in the context of the global market, there are no big changes expected, however, they may appear in the regions.