Starting from January 1, 2021, a zero duty on wine imports from the EU to Ukraine came into force.
This is provided by Ukraine's obligations to zero import duties on a number of goods during the seven-year period following the conclusion of the economic part of the Association Agreement with the European Union.
Prior to that, the duty on wine imports from the EU was 0.3-0.4 EUR / liter.
In 2019, Ukraine exported wines worth $ 11.9 million. The largest foreign market for Ukrainian winemakers was Kazakhstan, where they supplied $ 1.3 million worth of wine products. In addition, one of the largest markets is Germany (supplies worth $ 1 million).
Over the year, imports grew by 30% for still wine and over 30% for sparkling wines. Experts note that Ukraine will be able to compete with imports only by producing quality goods and State support.
According to statistics, we can see that in monetary terms 2020 exports are 11 times lower than imports. Traditionally, the largest supplier of wine to Ukraine is Italy. First half of 2020 year, Ukraine imported Italian wine worth $ 20.7 million. France ($ 10.5 million) ranks second in the list, and Germany ($ 9.9 million) is third. Ukraine imported wines worth $ 26.7 million from other countries.
As for exports, in the first half of 2020, Ukrainian winemakers exported wines worth about $ 6 million, and import revenues for the same period amounted to about $ 68 million. Based on the figures, it is clear that imports are imported to us more than 10 times their wine is exported. Experts note that Ukraine is very interesting for European wine producers. Compared to Moldova, their market is not as attractive as the Ukrainian one due to the size of the population in the country.
In 2020, Ukraine still supplies domestic wine mainly to post-Soviet countries, some Asian countries, to Africa and a little to Germany, the USA and Canada. Some Ukrainian winemakers understood that their products are not competitive in Europe and Latin America, therefore they focused on Asia and Africa, namely on the supply of red dry and semi-sweet wines.
In September 2020, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky signed a decree that established a professional holiday in Ukraine, the Day of the Winegrower and Winemaker, which will be celebrated annually on the second Sunday of November. Zelensky noted the importance of this holiday for people who work in this area, and stressed that the government and the relevant ministry should present a set of measures for the development of viticulture and winemaking in Ukraine, which winemakers have been expecting for many years.
