Revised EU quotas on Ukrainian food imports are step backward, farm lobby says

KYIV, July 4 (Reuters) - European Union's revised quotas for agricultural imports from Ukraine this year are low relative to 2024 volumes, Ukrainian farm lobby UCAB told Reuters on Friday, adding that it regarded the reduction as a step backward.

Ukraine is a major global grower and exporter of grain, oilseeds and vegetable oil and the EU is its largest trading partner.

"We see this as a step back, given the fact that current Ukrainian conditions have not changed, while trade with the EU is becoming more conservative (compared) with increased (EU) imports from other third countries," UCAB said.

The EU raised its import quotas for Ukrainian wheat, sugar, barley and poultry as part of a revised free-trade agreement, an EU official said on Friday. The bloc and Ukraine reached an initial trade deal at the end of June.

It increased its import quota for Ukrainian wheat to 1.3 million metric tons from 1 million tons, that for sugar to 100,000 tons from 20,000 tons and its barley import quota to 450,000 tons from 350,000 tons.

The EU had temporarily waived duties and quotas on Ukraine's agricultural products in June 2022 after Russia's full-scale invasion and resulting threat to its traditional Black Sea shipping lanes.

The agreement expired on June 5 and the two sides had to agree on new quotas which would not hit European farmers, who have repeatedly protested against a sudden influx of cheaper products from Ukraine.

The Commission introduced "emergency brakes" last year on imports of poultry, sugar, oats, maize, groats, and honey if they exceeded the yearly average in 2021-2023.

Ukraine is the third largest supplier of agri-food products to the EU, according to EU data.

The revised agreement now includes 40 goods and still needs to be adopted by a qualified majority of member states.