UNAF addressed an appeal to members of the Ukraine-EU Association Committee and members of the European Parliament regarding the export of poultry products to the EU.

The MEPs’ questions state that Ukrainian producers have created a «special» cut of poultry product to unfairly benefit from a «loophole» in the EU-Ukraine Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement («DCFTA»). The questions suggest that Ukrainian producers are using this special cut and loophole to benefit unfairly from undeserved advantages.
Contrary to what these questions suggest, the so-called «loophole» is nothing other than the EU’s bound commitment under the DCFTA to grant Ukraine a zero import duty to Ukrainian poultry products imported under subheadings «0207 13 70» and «0207 14 70» of the EU’s Combined Nomenclature («CN»). This commitment was only one of the many concessions that both the EU and Ukraine voluntarily granted each other to ensure a deeper market integration under the DCFTA. It is not a loophole but a concession that is legally binding on the EU, and which created legitimate expectations of trade for both Ukraine and its poultry producers.

Ukrainian poultry producers are also not unfairly creating a special poultry cut to take advantage of the EU’s binding commitment under CN 0207 13 70 and 0207 14 70. The questions raised by the different MEPs fail to mention that EU Member States themselves have confirmed that the poultry cuts legitimately fall under 0207 13 70 and 0207 14 70. Three Binding Tariff Information Decisions of the Dutch and Slovak customs authorities have confirmed that Ukrainian producers are correctly exporting their poultry cuts of «breast caps with wings, bone in» under CN subheadings 0207 13 70 and 0207 14 70.

Furthermore, none of the MEPs’ questions provide any evidence of harm to the European poultry market as a result of Ukraine's limited exports of poultry to the EU under subheadings 0207 13 70 and 0207 14 70. According to the European Commission’s own statistics, the EU’s volume of imports of poultry products from Ukraine is much lower than Ukraine’s imports of EU poultry products. These statistics show that, during the first two months of 2018, the EU exported to Ukraine 26,909 tons of poultry, while Ukraine exported only 17,986 tons to the EU. Moreover, in all of 2017, the EU exported 163,057 tons of poultry to Ukraine, whereas it imported 80,083 tons from Ukraine.

Ukrainian poultry exports to the EU also represent a small proportion of the 727,216 tons of poultry that the EU imported from third countries in 2017.

UNAF also wants to emphasize that Ukrainian poultry producers do not pose any real threat to European jobs in the poultry sector. While we may benefit from lower manufacturing costs, our products are sold at prices that are around 7% higher than similar EU origin poultry cuts from Poland and Romania. We also comply with all standards required under the DCFTA, and we disclose the origin of our products in accordance with EU legislation.

The Ukrainian National Agrarian Forum believes it is important that you have a clear and balanced picture of the situation. We do not wish that a relatively small trade issue, such as a limited amount of exports of poultry to the EU, leads to the adoption of EU measures that would harm the long term interests of the EU and Ukraine, and of their citizens as a whole. We also support the Ukrainian Government’s efforts to settle this issue in a friendly manner, and negotiate and agree on the adoption of a reasonable cap and/or limited tariff duties on the EU import of our poultry products that is balanced and takes into account the interests of both the EU and Ukraine.

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