BRUSSELS, June 20 ------ The European Commission will introduce tariffs on Ukrainian egg imports into the European Union within the next two weeks after a previously agreed annual threshold for those imports has been reached, a spokesperson said. The commission, the EU's executive arm, announced that it would introduce tariffs on oat imports, opens new tab from Ukraine after the volume ceiling for the cereal was reached.
In eggs, EU imports jumped by three-quarters last year and continued to rise at the start of this year, with Ukraine the leading supplier, EU data showed. The European egg industry has complained that the influx of cheaper Ukrainian supplies has hampered a recovery in output from bird flu outbreaks in recent years that have ravaged poultry flocks.
Ukraine's Agriculture Ministry declined to comment on the planned tariffs on eggs. The Ukrainian union of egg producers was unavailable for immediate comment. The EU's curbs on agricultural imports from Ukraine also cover poultry, sugar, groats, maize and honey. Ukraine said in late May it would ban sugar exports to the EU for the remainder of this year as the volume limit had been reached, though EU data showed that nearly 44,000 metric tons remained available out of a total of about 263,000 tons.
Source: reuters.com
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