The Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food is negotiating with the European Commission on the allocation of individual quotas for duty-free import of organic foods to the EU, so that the producers of ordinary and bio-products did not claim the same quota, said Deputy Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food on European Integration Olha Trofimtseva.
”We believe that it is wrong, taking into account the violent development of our organic production and exports. That is why there is such a subject, and it is being worked out,” Trofimtseva said.
She noted that the negotiations were also underway on reducing regulatory barriers to the export of Ukrainian organic foods to the EU. In particular, the topic of discussion is the need to double-check bio-foods for compliance with export standards – before crossing the border and in the country of destination.
As UNIAN reported earlier, according to the Federation of Organic Movement of Ukraine, over the past eight years, the consumption of organic products in Ukraine increased by 34 times, from EUR 0.5 million in 2008 to EUR 17 million in 2015. As for the areas planted with organic production, Ukraine ranks 22nd in the world. Ukrainian farmers, whose nu,ner was 210 in 2015, cultivate bio-products on the area of 410,000 ha. The supply of organic foods traditionally exceeds domestic demand. More than 80% of exports goes to the EU.
