News
23.09.2011
Agrarian associations asking Ukrainian president to promote cancelation of export duties on grain
The Association of Agricultural Producers have asked Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych to instruct the government to draw up a draft law on the cancelation of export duties on grain and submit it to parliament.
The address, a copy of which has been sent to Interfax-Ukraine, was signed by the Agrarian Union of Ukraine, the Ukrainian Agrarian Confederation, the Association of Farmers and Private Landowners, the Ukrainian Grain Association, the Union of Poultry Farmers of Ukraine, the Ukrmolprom national dairy producers' association, Ukroliyaprom, UkrTsukor and the Association of Winegrowers and Winemakers of Ukraine.
Representative of nongovernmental organizations also asked the head of state to promote free exports of farm products in the future and restore value added tax refunding for exporters of grain.
The address says that from July 1, 2011, Ukraine stopped refunding value added tax to exporters of grain and fodder crops and introduced export duties on wheat, barley and maize. According to the associations, the prolongation of the duties and imposing them on exports of oil-bearing crops and sunflower oil is being discussed. Farmers believe that the consequences of the measures will be very negative. In particular, they said that Ukraine would loose export markets, incomes of farmers would fall, currency inflows to the country would narrow and the investment climate would sharply worsen.
The associations said that during the period of export duties for grain, exports of grain plunged to 1.8 million tonnes in July-August 2011, while in the period in 2010 exports came to 3.85 million tonnes.
