Export of Ukrainian poultry producers at risk

This was stated by Sergey Karpenko, the Executive Director of the Union of Poultry Breeders of Ukraine, said during a press conference in Kyiv on August 28.

Vet certificates will become invalid

During the last 5 years, Ukrainian poultry exports grew 3 fold, Karpenko estimated. The access to quite a few markets is provided through veterinary certificates signed by Gosprodpotrebzlyuzba. The reorganisation reform would mean that existing certificates could become invalid and this might disrupt the country’s poultry export, he added.

“I don’t see how this reform could hurt food exporters. From the point of view of food products…”

Transfer of duties to new agency

The government plans to liquidate Gosprodpotrebzlyuzba and transfer its duties to a new government agency, Ukraine’s chief sanitary doctor Victor Lyashko said. The new agency would have both the current Gosprodpotrebzlyuzba’s tasks and work in the field of disease control and prevention, he added. “I don’t see how this reform could hurt food exporters. From the point of view of food products, we are not changing the Gosprodpotrebzlyuzba’s working scheme,” Lyashko said.

Proposed reform could disrup food export for up to 3 yrs

However, Vadim Chagarovsky, chairman of the board of Ukraine dairy companies’ union, is not so sure. “The proposed reform could disrupt food export from Ukraine for 1.5 to 3 years. This step comes as “an unpleasant surprise” for the country’s trade partners.” The new government body needs to develop new veterinary certificates and enter into new negotiations with foreign countries’ veterinary agencies to restore export supplies, Chagarovsky added. ‘’This process can cause significant damage to Ukraine’s food industry, effectively undermining its food safety,” he added.

Poultry export dynamics

In the first half of 2020, poultry export from Ukraine stood at 212,300 tonnes, 0.6% more than the same period in 2019. In monetary terms, the export totalled $ 271 million, 11.8% down compared to the first half of the last year, the State Customs Service of Ukraine estimated. The biggest markets were Saudi Arabia (17.63%), the Netherlands (16.76%) and UAE (12.21%). Ukraine’s biggest poultry producer MHP had to reduce its export volume in the first quarter of 2020 because of the outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza in Vinnytsia Oblast. In the following month, the export was undermined by the Covid-19 pandemic. In the first half of 2020, MHP reduced poultry meat sales by 5% to 328,390 tonnes, the company said in a statement on its website. Despite that, MHP plans to increase exports of products by 10% to 390,000 tonnes in 2020.