Ukraine says EU rejected higher wheat quota, will seek more access for bioethanol

The EU has so far rejected Ukraine’s request to increase the import quota for wheat, so the Ministry of Agrarian Policy is advising exporters to use the available WTO tariff quota. At the same time, Ukraine plans to separately seek an increase in the quota for bioethanol, Minister of Agrarian Policy Taras Vysotskyi said in response to a question from Latifundist.com during a meeting with journalists.

Context. Earlier, Oleksandra Avramenko, head of the European Integration Committee at the Ukrainian Agribusiness Club (UCAB), said that the European Commission had refused to review the quota for imports of Ukrainian wheat. At the same time, Ukrainian exporters can use a separate EU quota for third countries amounting to 2.3 million tons.

According to Vysotskyi, Ukraine has already received feedback from the EU on its proposal to review the quota volumes for agricultural products. For now, the European Union is not prepared to increase them for any category.

“As of today, the feedback from the EU side is that the socio-political situation does not allow for a review of the quota volumes for agricultural products in any category,” Vysotskyi said.

At the same time, Ukraine will continue talks with the EU on expanding access for agricultural products to the European market.

Regarding wheat, following the EU’s refusal to increase the quota, the Ministry of Agrarian Policy is advising Ukrainian exporters to use the available WTO tariff quota, subject to the applicable duty of €12/t.

Bioethanol will be a separate focus of negotiations with the EU. According to Vysotskyi, the ministry has received numerous requests to expand export opportunities for the product.

The minister cited three arguments in favour of such a decision. First, EU corn production, the main feedstock for bioethanol, has declined significantly this year. Second, the European Union remains a net importer of bioethanol.

Third, Ukraine itself imports gasoline from the EU that already contains a mandatory share of bioethanol. Therefore, according to Vysotskyi, Ukraine is effectively asking to be allowed to supply the EU with bioethanol that, in part, returns to the Ukrainian market as part of imported European gasoline.

“We will continue to focus on bioethanol. Essentially, we are asking for a quota that would allow us to export approximately as much bioethanol as Ukraine already imports in the form of fuel — gasoline — from the European Union,” Vysotskyi explained.

According to him, Ukraine is asking to increase its bioethanol export opportunities by approximately 60,000 tons and plans to continue the dialogue with its European partners.