The EU Council welcomed the decision to recognize equivalence of the cereal seeds produced in Ukraine, thus opening possibility of the seeds export to the EU. The draft decision was adopted on 21 October and is currently awaiting publication in the Official Journal of the EU.

Voting on the decision took place in the EU Council of Agriculture Ministers last week. Next, the official publication of this decision is anticipated, upon which the customs points at the border of the EU countries will be obliged to permit the appropriate cargo of seeds from Ukraine.

According to Oleh Nesterov, Coordinator of the UCAB Seed Committee, adopted decision of the EU Council, its publication and entry into force will open a new market for the  Ukrainian seeds as well as enable to increase export opportunities for the seed companies producing seed in Ukraine and agricultural producers with their own production facilities: ‘In terms of seed of such crops as wheat and barley we meet almost 100% of domestic needs, on the top of export to some CIS countries and Asia. For example, in the last 3 years we have exported more than 12.5 thousand tons of wheat seeds to different countries of the world. And judging by the sharp ‘hike’ by 4.9 times in the export of this crop in 2019, we have significant potential for the export of not only marketable grain but seed as well. 

It should be noted that in the situation when business is striving to open new markets, the state is supposed to assist in this issue as well, in particular in establishment and implementation of legislation in the seed certification sector, phytosanitary procedures, etc.: ‘In this case the state should most effectively facilitate and support business by reducing administrative pressure, maximizing optimization of processes and procedures, and most importantly - it should not create additional obstacles to the seed export, such as proposals to amend the Seed Certification Procedure, particular provisions of which are either not supported or deeply bothering the seed business’ , Oleh Nesterov emphasized.