Ukraine has asked the European Union to provide at least €1.1bn to compensate for additional logistics costs involved in exporting agricultural products.
The Ukrainian side voiced this request during a meeting of agriculture ministers in Brussels earlier this week, following Russia’s blockade of deep-water Black Sea ports, Interfax-Ukraine reports Interfax-Ukraine.
According to Taras Vysotskyi, Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food, European counterparts are still working through the request, so there is no final response yet. The needs assessment was based on €50 per tonne of product, meaning the €1.1bn would help stimulate additional exports of up to 20 million tonnes.
Ukraine is currently exporting only half of its potential volumes of agricultural produce. If no additional measures are taken under the port blockade, the country will be unable to ship about 30 million tonnes of harvest this marketing year, worth almost $10bn.
- Earlier, Vysotskyi, speaking at a round table in Brussels, urged that alternative logistics be made economically viable for Ukrainian producers. Ukraine proposed introducing temporary support mechanisms to cover additional logistics costs, including during the transport of agricultural products across the European Union to European ports and export hubs. Such a step would help maintain regular supplies to traditional markets in Africa, the Middle East and Asia.