EU returns customs duties on Ukrainian honey

Due to exceeding the quotas, the European Union has returned customs duties on Ukrainian honey.

This follows from a statement by the Directorate-General of the European Commission for Agriculture and Rural Development, the Ukrainian News agency reports.

"Starting from August 21 and until June 5, 2025, the import of Ukrainian honey to the EU will take place within the tariff quota within the framework of the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area (DCFTA), which has been in force since 2016 between the two parties. The automatic restoration of this tariff quota is the result revision of autonomous trade measures (ATMs) effective from June 6, 2024. The revised ATMs include an emergency brake for seven agricultural products, which is automatically activated if the import volume reaches the average annual import volume recorded in the period from July 1, 2021, to December 31, 2023 year," the message says.

For honey, this average is 44,417.56 tons.

"Since the import of honey from Ukraine from the beginning of 2024 already exceeds the volumes established by the tariff quota, additional imports will be subject to customs duties in the most favored nation mode," the message says.

Also, from January 1, 2025, until June 5, 2025, a new tariff quota for honey at the level of 18,507.32 tons will be introduced.

According to the report, the import of Ukrainian honey to the EU has been quite stable over the past five years and averaged about 49,000 tons per year.

As the Ukrainian News agency earlier reported, in July, the EU returned customs duties on Ukrainian eggs and sugar due to exceeding quotas.

The European Union has extended the duty-free trade regime for Ukraine for another year until June 2025.