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EU envoys strike brand-new deal on Ukraine food imports

Ambassadors from European Union nations reached a modified offer on Wednesday to extend tarifffree food imports from Ukraine with limitations after some states complained the original agreement risked destabilising the bloc's farming markets.

The arrangement now goes to the European Parliament, where diplomats anticipate a push to include more limitations, as the EU wrangles over how to continue with exemptions approved in 2022 to help Ukraine's economy following Russia's intrusion.

Some EU farming groups and countries such as France and Poland had argued the procedures needed to be tightened up to avoid making EU agricultural products uncompetitive. Ukraine and others argue the imports have little result on EU markets.

An EU diplomat stated the brand-new deal - which would run up until June 2025 - was similar to a provisionary agreement struck last week however changed the referral duration utilized to determine when tariffs on some items would be applied.

The initial deal stipulated that tariffs would kick in on poultry, eggs, sugar, oats, maize, groats and honey if imports surpassed the typical levels of 2022 and 2023.

The compromise expands the referral duration to consist of the second half of 2021, the diplomat said. That reduces the ceiling for the application of tariffs.

Belgium, which holds the EU's rotating presidency, stated the agreement protected a balanced technique in between assistance for Ukraine and security of EU farming markets.

It is approximated to cost Ukraine about 330 million euros ($ 357 million) in annual revenue - although the continued total suspension of tariffs deserves a lot more to Kyiv.

NO PRODUCTS INCLUDED

No products were added to the list of those possibly subject to tariffs regardless of pressure from some nations, the diplomat said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the confidential discussions.

Earlier today, both France and Hungary said wheat needs to undergo tariffs if imports rose above average levels.

The concern of food imports has sparked stress between Ukraine and Poland, an otherwise strong fan of Kyiv.

Polish Farming Minister Czeslaw Siekierski was because of fulfill his Ukrainian equivalent, Mykola Solsky, on Wednesday afternoon, with the governments of the countries due to assemble on Thursday.

Siekierski said that Ukraine wanted to maintain a liberal approach to trade while Poland believed that things like humanitarian and military aid ought to be treated individually from food exports to protect farmers' incomes in main and eastern Europe.

Polish farmers say that much of the Ukrainian grain that is expected to transit through Poland to other countries ends up in the domestic market rather.

Ukraine says farmers' protests, which have consisted of blockades of the border and the spilling of Ukrainian grain throughout rail tracks, are hurting its war effort against Russia and its economy. It likewise says that just a small part of the grain it exports transits through Poland.

(source: Reuters)