EU lifts Ukraine poultry ban as disease fear eases
Ukraine has secured the green light to start exporting poultry to the EU, one of its biggest markets, after a near two-month trade ban was lifted by the European Commission (EC).
One of the country’s largest poultry producers, MHP, said it would resume chicken exports to the EU market as soon as possible.
The trade ban is not expected to hurt MHP’s full-year earnings, scheduled for publication in March this year. This is because MHP expects to have mitigated the worst of the trade ban’s impact, thanks to a highly diversified poultry export operation, with burgeoning volumes shipped to the Middle East and North Africa.
‘Ready’ for trade
Commenting on the news, an MHP spokesperson said it was “business as usual” and added the agro-industrial firm was “ready to work”.
The Agrarian Policy and Food Ministry of Ukraine confirmed the trade ban had been dropped on Monday 30 January.
“Ukraine and the European Union have implemented the principles of regionalisation when trading poultry and poultry products,” said Taras Kutovyi, Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine.
“A full export ban was in place on three regions: Kherson, Odessa and Chernivtsi. As of now, poultry supplies to the European market have been resumed.”
Ukraine was subjected to an EC trade ban from 6 December 2016 after recording its first outbreak of avian influenza (AI) in nearly eight years.
After the ban was enforced, the Ukraine Agribusiness Club warned that the country’s poultry industry could lose up to €4.4m (UAH150m) per month as the EU market accounts for 20% of Ukraine’s export market.
