Ukraine wants to export potatoes to the European Union. The State Service for Food Safety and Consumer Protection in the country has submitted a proposal to the European Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety.
Ukraine and the European Union are currently in discussions about whether the former country is ready for inspection by the European Union. This involves checking whether the conditions are met for exporting potatoes to the European Union. “Ukraine is fulfilling the obligations of the Association Agreement, especially in the field of aligning national legislation with European rules,” says Vladyslava Mahaletska, Director of the State Food Safety Service at MENAFN UkrinForm. “We remain committed to providing Ukrainian growers with access to the European market.”
potato surplus
The fact that Ukraine wants to work on access to the European market has to do with the conditions on the local market. After a few years of problems - in which the country was a net importer - there is a potato surplus this year, according to sources. Although neighboring countries Russia and Belarus are looking for potatoes, Ukraine is almost unable to benefit from this. This results in low prices for growers: approximately $17 per 100 kilos, compared to $38 per 100 kilos in Russia.
With a harvest of more than 20 million tons of potatoes, Ukraine is the largest potato producer in the world (after China, India and Russia). This is evident from the statistics of the Food and Agriculture Organization. For comparison: the Netherlands is in ninth place in the same state, with almost 7 million tons.