EU concerned about growing Ukrainian agricultural exports - European Commission member

BRUSSELS. Jan 23 (Interfax) - Ukrainian agricultural exports were highlighted at Agriculture and Fisheries Council debates on Tuesday, European Commissioner for Agriculture Janusz Wojciechowski said.

"There are some concerns from the member states [...]. The main concerns are about the situation in some sensitive sectors, which is poultry, sugar and eggs. The sugar import from Ukraine was increased from 20,000 tonnes in 2021 [...]. In 2022 there was 148,000 tonnes and in 2023 it will be about 450,000 tonnes," Wojciechowski said at a press conference in Brussels following the Agriculture and Fisheries Council meeting.

Poultry breeders are concerned, as are European sugar manufacturers, as the growth of Ukrainian exports in their sector is quite tangible although not so impressive, he said.

It would be necessary to find a solution to the scope of imports, Wojciechowski said, adding that final proposals have yet to be made and discussion of them is ongoing.

"The other issue is to have appropriate safeguards measures to react when the import of other products is too high. This is the question of cereals or oilseeds. My position is that we need to have the measures, which allow for the reaction like last time in April, when was introduced the temporary local ban for the import [from Ukraine] for the five member states," he said.

In his opinion, such a mechanism allowing for a rapid response when required is necessary.