The largest agrarian associations that are part of the Ukrainian National Agrarian Forum sent an official appeal to Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman urging not to introduce a quota regime for the import of petroleum products.

The appeal notes that such actions will lead to a shortage of fuel, monopolization of the fuel market, as well as rising prices for gasoline and diesel fuel, which is most important for the functioning of agriculture.

According to the agrarian associations, restricting the import of fuel and lubricants from Russia, Belarus and other countries by setting quotas will lead to a sharp increase in fuel prices not only for citizens, but also affect the cost of field work in the agricultural sector. The spring sowing campaign this year will amount to 127 billion UAH, which is 23% higher than last year (103 billion UAH in 2017). Compared to last year, the cost of fuel and lubricants increased by 29% and reached 25 billion UAH.

At the moment, there are only two oil refineries in Ukraine that satisfy 45% of the Ukrainian gasoline market demand and only 15% in diesel fuel, which is the main means of production in the agro-industrial complex.

Restricting imports will not solve the problem of the efficiency of Ukrainian refineries and will not lead to the restoration of the operation of stopped plants, because this sector requires significant investments in the renewal and increase in its own production facilities.

At the same time, according to experts, as a result of import quotas, the shortage in the market of fuel and lubricants will exceed 15%. In addition, the rack and diversified supply chain of petroleum products to Ukraine will be destroyed.

It should be noted that this restriction will lead to the creation of a monopoly in the market for the production of gasoline. At the same time, diesel fuel, which is supposed to be produced domestically, will significantly increase in price as a result of quoting. This will lead to the transition to alternative types of energy, or even to stop the operation of equipment in the agricultural sector. Also, these actions may lead to a deterioration in international economic relations.

At the same time, the establishment of import quotas not only for Russia and Belarus, but also for other countries, in particular, the European Union, will have a negative impact on trade relations.

“We ask you, dear Vladimir Borisovich, to take into account the opinion of agrarians and not to initiate a special investigation regarding fuel imports, in particular, not to introduce import quotas. In the case of the start of the special investigation, we ask to include experts from the organizations of the members of the All-Ukrainian Agrarian Forum to jointly assess this situation and take into account the position of the agricultural sector, ”concluded the agrarian associations in the text of the appeal.

Recall that at the end of March, PJSC Ukrtatnafta appealed to the Ministry of Economic Development with a request to conduct a special investigation regarding the critical growth in the volume of imported oil products in the domestic fuel market. The introduction of quotas for the import of gasoline and diesel fuel was planned from May 2018. The goal of this initiative is to gradually bring the share of petroleum products from one country (from one source) to 30%.