The European Commission announced on Friday that it would activate an emergency trade brake on honey imports from Ukraine to the European Union (EU) until June 2025, creating a ceiling on such trade flows to avoid discrepancies.
“The emergency brake has been activated for honey from Ukraine. Until June 5, 2025, Ukrainian honey imported to the EU will be subject to the tariff quota of the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area,” said Olof Gill, a representative of the commercial institution, in a publication on the social network X (formerly Twitter).
After the EU adopted this mechanism for products such as poultry, eggs, sugar, oats, corn and semolina, it is now also applying it to honey, with the new quota set at 18,507.32 tonnes.
Ukrainian honey imports to the EU have remained relatively stable over the past five years, averaging around 49,000 tonnes per year.
The emergency brake comes as part of a tariff exemption granted from 2022 to support Ukraine in the face of Russian invasion, which has already sparked protests from European farmers who complain the flood of Ukrainian produce has driven down local prices and increased unfair competition.
For this reason, a European mechanism was introduced to ensure that rapid corrective action could be taken in the event of serious disruptions in the EU market or in the markets of one or more Member States.
The goal is to stabilize imports at average import levels so that if the flow of products from Ukraine exceeds these thresholds, tariffs are reinstated to ensure that imports do not significantly exceed the values of previous years.
With such a limit, the EU says it will maintain support for Ukraine in the war started by Russia almost two years ago, while protecting the EU’s hardest-hit farmers, especially in neighbouring countries.
EU imports from Ukraine in 2023 amounted to €22.8 billion, compared to the pre-war level of €24 billion in 2021.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
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