Solskyi: Ukraine seeks free trade with the EU on a competitive market basis

Ukraine is counting on the continuation of the duty-free trade regime with the EU, because Ukrainian exports do not harm the European economy.

Ukraine calls for continuation of duty-free and quota-free trade regime with EU countries. This was stated by the Minister of Agricultural Policy Mykola Solskyi during the meeting of the EU Council on Agriculture and Fisheries in Brussels, APK-Inform reports.

The minister noted that the export of Ukrainian agricultural products does not have a negative impact on the EU markets, and in some places it fulfills its role to stabilize the price balance. Therefore, Ukraine strives for free trade with the European Union on a competitive market basis.

According to Solsky, if you analyze the data, it will become clear that the problem of Ukrainian agricultural exports is much smaller than it is presented. The Ukrainian agricultural sector has become the object of negative myths, which in fact have no economic basis, but are mainly a product of the political situation.

Read also: Ukrainian grain does not harm the Polish agricultural market

Currently, Ukrainian grain exports to the EU have practically returned to pre-war levels. At the same time, Ukraine has not supplied wheat, sunflower, corn and rapeseed to neighboring countries for almost a year, and most agricultural exports are exported by sea.

Thus, from the beginning of 2024, out of 17 million tons of agricultural exports, about 12 million tons went through the ports of Great Odesa, almost 3 million tons were sent via the Danube, and only 2 million tons — through the western borders.

“We transit through Poland in a month as much as we export through Ukrainian seaports in one day. “Now the cost of exports from Ukraine by sea is much more competitive than by land,” Solsky emphasized.

Previously, USM wrote that 90% of Ukraine’s foreign trade goes through the ports of Odesa region.