Ukraine's Deputy Minister Says Turkey's Grain Import Tariff Will Not Affect Kiev

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 26th April, 2023) Turkey's decision to impose a 130% tariff for grain imports will not affect Ukraine, as the lion's share of Ukrainian products will not be subject to it, Deputy Minister of Economy of Ukraine Taras Kachka said on Wednesday.

Starting from May 1, Turkey imposes a 130% tariff for the imports of wheat, barley and corn. The respective document was signed by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and published by official Turkish media outlet Resmi Gazete. According to the document, there will be an exception for the imports from Singapore, whose products will be subject to a 16.2% tariff, and Bosnia and Herzegovina with its zero tariff rate. Turkey is the largest importer of wheat and barley from Ukraine, Ukrainian newspaper Ekonomichna Pravda (Economic Truth) reported.

"This decision (of Turkey) does not relate to Ukraine, it relates to the import tariff in general ... Turkey needs Ukrainian grain and will purchase it. It will be state procurement, which takes place without tariffs, and statistically, we know that a part of our grain has been exported to Turkey under the so called tariff imports regime to be processed there, which is tariff-free," Kachka told a Ukrainian national telethon, adding that in his opinion "the lion's share of Ukrainian goods flow to Turkey will not be affected by that tariff.

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The developments come against the backdrop of increased concerns of some of the European states triggered by the surged imports of grain from Ukraine following the duty-free trade agreement between the European Union and Kiev signed last June and the launch of so called green corridors for transit of agricultural products from Ukraine to the world market in March 2022, which ended in cheap Ukrainian grain flooding EU markets and prompting outrage among local farmers.

On April 20, Brussels proposed a mechanism to stop imports of Ukrainian grain, corn, sunflower seeds and rapeseed into the EU until June 5, in an attempt to support the affected EU farmers. Later on, six of the EU member states urged the European Commission to extend the ban until the end of 2023.

On April 15, Poland and Hungary said they were banning imports of Ukrainian agricultural products until June 30, citing the need to protect domestic farmers from the uncontrolled influx of cheap grain from Ukraine. Slovakia followed suit on April 17 and Bulgaria on April 19.