Ukraine boosts organic product exports to EU and Switzerland

MOSCOW. Feb 16 (Interfax) - Despite the crisis, Ukraine's exports of organic products to the European Union and Switzerland rose 13% to 225,810 tonnes in 2022 year-on-year.

These figures were presented by Ukrainian First Deputy Agrarian Policy and Food Minister Taras Vysotsky at the Biofach 2023 international trade exhibition of organic products, Ukrainian media said on Wednesday, citing the website of the Agrarian Policy and Food Ministry.

This increase in deliveries reflects the extraordinary efforts made by companies of Ukraine's organic sector and their international partners to address the urgent needs of Ukrainian exporters of organic products and lobby for their interests on international markets, Vysotsky said.

In recent years, Ukraine has become an important supplier of organic products to the EU, he said. In 2021, Ukraine exported $222 million worth of organic products and ranked fifth among the key suppliers of such products to the EU. In addition, in 2021, more than 80 types of Ukrainian organic products were exported to 30 countries worldwide.

Ukraine continues to closely cooperate with international partners in the organic sector, Vysotsky said. Thus, the European Commission has already canceled import tariffs and quotas for goods from Ukraine and suspended additional control measures applied to organic products from Ukraine since 2015.

Ukraine's Agrarian Policy and Food Ministry assured the EU countries and the European Commission that Ukrainian operators of the organic products market are able to fulfill their export obligations to supply organic protein feed to the EU countries in 2022-2023. Furthermore, Ukraine has been cooperating with European partners to resolve logistical problems facing this sector.