Ukraine’s deputy minister of economic development and trade Valeri Pyatnitskiy said the EU had agreed to provide Ukraine with a significant duty-free quota for lamb exports as part of negotiations on the establishment of a free trade agreement (FTA) between the two regions. “Negotiations over the other types of meat continue and the most heated debate is around poultry. But we got a good quota on lamb, which will be fully met by our producers,” he said.
Pyatnitskiy refused to reveal the size of the duty-free quota, noting that the information was still confidential, but a source in the ministry admitted that it exceeds the amount of lamb currently produced in the Ukraine.
“Moreover, we have reached an agreement that the quota will be increased annually by 10%. And we simply don’t produce that much lamb,” they said.
According to the director of Ukraine consulting company AAA Sergei Brandy, the volume of lamb production in Ukraine “is currently a little more than 1,000 tons per year”. Previously, the duty for lamb export to the EU was 12.8% of the customs value plus €902-€3,118 per tonne.
Pyatnitskiy claimed the EU quota would revive the industry and enable it to boost production by several times. “Yes, the production [of lamb] in Ukraine is almost ‘dead’, but the prospect of supplying the EU will give it new incentives to get on its feet,” he said.
However, market participants have pointed out that, without government support, farmers will not be able to significantly increase production and compete on price with European manufacturers.