How sweet is this? EU-Ukraine sugar trade and its importance for economic relations in the short to medium term

Ukrainian Agribusiness Club together with UCABEvent agency invites you to the sixth online discussion, dedicated to the EU – Ukraine trade in sugar, a major agricultural item in Ukrainian exports. 

• September 17, 2024 (Tuesday)
• 11:00 - 12:30 (Kyiv time)/10:00-11:30 (CET  time)
• English

Access is free of charge: https://forms.gle/XWW5TNKJm8C8WHWN6

Agenda

11:00 - 11:15
Kick-off remarks. 
Taras Kachka, Deputy Minister of Economy, Ukraine’s Trade Representative  

11:15 - 12:00 Panel Discussion
Moderator: Nazar Bobitski, Head of the UCAB EU office

Panelists:

• Yana Kavushevska, Executive Director, Ukrainian Association of Sugar Producers
• Ihor Shylyuk, CEO, Cygnet company (Ukraine)
• Yuriy Sharanov, President, Committee of European Sugar Users (CIUS)
• Christian Spiegeleer, President of the Association of French Sugar Manufacturers (SNFS), European Association of Sugar Manufacturers (CEFS)
• Dr. Alex Lissitsa, President of UCAB

12:00 - 12:20 Q&As from online audience.

12:20 - 12:30 - Alex Lissitsa, President of UCAB, concluding remarks.

Context:

Sugar is a major item in Ukraine’s agricultural exports worldwide and to the EU market while the European Union is the world’s leading producer of beet sugar, with around 50% of the total amount. In the EU, sugar is an agricultural product that historically has been considered as ‘sensitive’ in the European agricultural sector, providing its European producers with income support and emergency market stabilization measures under the EU Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) while the sugar sector has been extensively regulated under the EU Common Market organization (CMO) framework.

This partly may explain the reason why the European Commission included sugar into the list of products which were made subject to specific safeguard measures under the EU Autonomous Trade Measures (ATMs) for Ukraine, a package of temporary trade liberalization measures designed to support Ukraine’s economy at the time of war.

Our discussion will focus on the underlying rationale of the EU decision on the latest extension of the ATMs regime, its potential effects on the sugar sector and sugar consumption in Ukraine and the EU and how it may affect the EU-Ukraine trade in sugar in the medium to long-term, in the context of the country’s preparations to join the EU.