Tatyana Gracheva

According to Ukraine’s First Deputy Prime Minister – Economy Minister, Yulia Sviridenko, the EU will extend trade preferences for Ukraine through 2025 for the last time. By next summer the association agreement will have been updated in such a way that the expected terms of trade for the period before Ukraine joins the EU will be established.
The effect of the so-called autonomous trade measures extended several times under which the EU abolished duties and quotas on Ukrainian products have begun since June 2022 and will expire on June 5, 2024. EU institutions approved the new extension that will maintain the current trade regime through June 5, 2025 and contain protective mechanisms allowing to take prompt measures in trade in case of significant disruptions in the EU common market or the markets of one or more Member States.
As Sviridenko said, agricultural goods, or more precisely, 36 categories of them, for which tariff quotas or an input price system had previously been applied are mainly concerned by the duty-free trade regime for Ukraine.
According to the Economy Ministry, a number of negative decisions were caused by the sharp change in trade flows between Ukraine and the EU in recent years.
Sviridenko also highlighted the long-term collaboration with the governments of neighboring states and with EU institutions in elimination of these phenomena, including the extension of autonomous trade preferences such as provisions on special protective measures, in particular, automatic measures for corn, meat poultry, sugar, oats and cereals. The agreement between Ukraine and the EU on updating of the association agreement in order to set the expected terms of trade for the country for the period before it joins the EU is the most important thing.
As she said, not only duties on agricultural goods, which have not yet been liberalized, but also production standards, which will help remove prejudices regarding Ukrainian products, will be discussed during the negotiations. The removal of all restrictive measures adopted by neighboring EU member states that contradict the logic of open trade will be also negotiated by the Ukrainian government.
According to the Ministry of Economy, the absence of anti-dumping and protective measures in relation to Ukrainian metallurgical products is included in the EU trade preferences concerning the supply of other goods to the European market.
65% of Ukrainian exports and 51% of its imports is currently accounted for the EU.
In 2014 they signed the Association Agreement, which envisages a gradual economic and political rapprochement between Ukraine and the EU.

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According to the report of the Ukrainian Agrarian Council’s (UAC) Pusk analytical cooperative, Ukraine is likely to produce within 19 million to 20 million tonnes of wheat production in in 2024, and the country would export up to 14 million tonnes of it in the 2024-2025 agricultural year (July 2024 to June 2025).
Pusk reported that wheat offer will significantly shrink in the new season. Ukrainian wheat stocks decreased by 3 million tonnes compared to last year. The country has signed contracts for exporting 1.65 million tonnes. Initial estimates predict that Ukrainian wheat production this year will not exceed 19 million to 20 million tonnes, compared to 23 million tonnes harvested last year. So, it will be possible for Ukraine to export no more than 13 million to 14 million tonnes in the new season, according to Ukrainian media.
The export potential of wheat stocks would be reduced by this decline in them and in production in the next season by 2 million to 3 million tonnes.
The report said that wheat would be made more expensive in the new season by these objective factors. The price will rise from $200 to $210 per tonne of food-grade wheat at least as early as in the fall and winter. Both the exchange and traders would also be pushed up by weather risks.
Growing demand and prices for food-grade wheat, as buyers are accumulating stocks, was mentioned in the report. Cheaper logistics as another factor boosting sales of Ukrainian wheat was also named by the experts.
According to Pusk, the CPT market has a positive effect from recent going of freight prices down by $2 to $4 per tonne a week. As we can see, growing trade in grain owes to this tendency concerning wheat prices. Downward trends on the physical market, especially based on CPT, are often seen in May and June. However, record high prices may be reached this season by food-grade wheat, although this will happen no sooner than in September.
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) reports an increase of its outlook of wheat exports from Ukraine in the current agricultural year (July 2023 to June 2024) by 1.5 million tonnes to 16.5 million tonnes in April.
NH Logistics UKR has been offering IOR Importer of Record and EOR Exporter of Record services since 2001 and is a market leader in Ukraine and Eurasia, supporting many clients with their import/export shipments.

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According to the preliminary data published by the National Statistics Service of Georgia (Geostat) in January-March 2024, Georgia’s foreign trade attained the value of $4.699 billion. It means that it decreased by 6.5% compared to the same period of 2023.
The decrease of exports from Georgia in January – March 2024 attained 9.3% ($1.326 billion), while the downfall of imports reached 5.3% ($3.373 billion). Consequently, the country’s negative trade balance represented 43.6% of its foreign trade turnover and reached $2.047 billion.
$722 million in trade volume made Turkey Georgia’s largest trade partner in the same period. Russia ($619 million), China ($331 million), United States ($329 million), and Azerbaijan ($299 million) were other large trade partners.
$236 million made Kyrgyzstan Georgia’s largest trade partner in exports during the reporting period. Russia ($161 million), Kazakhstan ($147 million), Azerbaijan ($135 million) and Armenia ($127 million) were other Georgia’s large trade partners.
Turkey ($625 million), Russia ($458 million), the United States ($299 million), China ($267 million) and Germany ($223 million) were Georgia’s largest trading partners In terms of imports.
Motor cars ($444 million) led the largest commodity groups in exports in January-March 2024, followed by wine of fresh grapes ($84 million), ferro-alloys ($73 million), spirituous beverages ($57 million), precious metal ores and concentrates ($40 million), natural or artificial mineral and aerated waters, not containing added sugar ($37 million), nitrogenous fertilizers ($34 million), medicaments put up in measured doses ($29 million), waters, mineral and aerated waters, containing added sugar ($24 million), T-shirts knitted ($24 million) and other commodities ($483 million).
Motor cars ($487 million), petroleum and petroleum oils ($290 million), petroleum gases and other gaseous hydrocarbons ($184 million), medicaments put up in measured doses ($153 million) telephone sets and apparatus for the transmission or reception of voice, images or other data (including wired/wireless networks) ($79 million), motor vehicles for the transport of goods ($49 million), bars and rods of iron or non-alloy steel ($41 million), automatic data processing machines and units thereof ($38 million), structures and parts of structures of iron or steel ($30 million), motor vehicles for the transport of ten or more persons ($29 million) and other commodities ($1.995 billion) were the major commodity groups of imports.
NH Logistics GEO has been offering IOR importer of Record and EOR Exporter of Record services since 2001 and is a market leader in Georgia and Eurasia, supporting many clients with their import/export shipments

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