Ukraine scraps special duty on rose imports

MOSCOW. May 22 (Interfax) - The Interdepartmental Commission on International Trade has abolished special measures with regard to the imports of fresh cut roses regardless of the country of origin and their exports.

Ukrainian media reported citing the commission's decision of May 20, which was published in the Uryadovy Kuryer newspaper and took effect on May 22 that the Ascania-Flora company proposed on April 12, 2024 extending the special duty on rose imports to Ukraine, which was imposed three years ago. The duty in the first year stood at 56%, at 44.8% in the second year and 35.84% in the third year.

The commission considered the report presented by the Economy Ministry and established that the imports of fresh roses had shrunk dramatically over the three years of the special duty, and that there were no unpredictable circumstances resulting in higher imports, but that there were probable threat factors due to substantial export capacity that could be redirected to Ukraine. There are other factors on the domestic market pertaining to the crisis, in particular, changing logistics, energy volatility, imbalance on the forex markets, and so on.

The Economy Ministry affirmed that the import prices remain below the selling price and cost price of similar goods on the domestic market.

At the same time, key financial and economic indicators of domestic producers, such as profits, profitability, market share, the volume of investment for expanding and retrofitting production facilities, and labor productivity, show improvement. In this regard, the commission completed revising special measures on fresh rose imports to Ukraine and decided not to extend them.

According to the Ukrainian State Statistics Committee, fresh cut rose imports to Ukraine reached 470,080 flowers or 20.6 tonnes worth $149,000 in January-February. Ethiopia is the main supplier of roses with 392,430 pieces. Other suppliers include Kenya, Ecuador, Netherlands, and Colombia.

Meanwhile, Ukraine exported 72,650 roses worth $50,700 to Lithuania and Moldova in January and February.