However, at present, Ukrainian farmers are unable to supply significant quantities of sheep and goat meat to the EU.
A spokesperson for the country’s Ukrainian Agribusiness Club (UAC), said the current volume quotas for Ukraine to supply sheep and goat meat to the EU actually exceeded the total volume of production of these types of meat in the country.
"As part of the autonomous trade preferences, Ukraine has been granted a 20,000 tonne (t) per year quota for exports of sheep and goat meat to the EU, but domestic production of this type of meat only stands at 16,600t," the association stated.
According to official information, 87% of sheep and goat meat in Ukraine is produced on small farms, so the average volume per producer is small. In 2013, total production of this type of meat in Ukraine amounted to 18,700t, but, due to the Russian occupation of Crimea and a number of other factors, production volumes dropped to 16,500t-16,600t in 2014.
Developing export opportunities in the sheep and goat industry may also be hampered by the fact that only a small number of farmers will be able to gain the necessary certification allowing them to export to the EU.
"For export of [sheep and goat] meat to the EU, producers must be certified, but in Ukraine there are virtually no modern enterprises producing sheep and goat meat," said Alina Zharko, agricultural markets expert at the UAC.
According to official information from Ukraine’s Customs Service, during the first 11 months of 2014, exports of sheep and goat meat from Ukraine amounted to only 5t, with a total value of US$19,000. The largest export market, with a 75% share of all supplies, was Azerbaijan. Small shipments were also supplied to China and Panama.
However, industry observers noted that deliveries to the EU could be very attractive in terms of margins.
"Production of sheep and goat meat in Ukraine in recent years has not developed, due to lack of sufficient demand and low prices. The possibility of supplying these types of meat to the EU would be a good reason for us to increase production volumes," said Petro Prolinets, a lamb farmer based in Rivne, western Ukraine.
According to information from Ukraine’s Agriculture Ministry, the EU imports about 200,000t of sheep and goat meat each year. Most of these supplies come from New Zealand, while smaller quantities are imported from Australia, Macedonia, Chile and Argentina. It added that global imports of sheep and goat meat were growing, with the largest buyers being China, the UK, the USA, Saudi Arabia and Germany.