The EU Flour Export Quota Opens the Door to Long-Term Planning for Ukrainian Millers — Rybchynskyi

The annual standalone tariff quota of 30,000 tonnes for Ukrainian flour exports to the EU, granted for the first time in 2025, creates meaningful long-term planning opportunities for Ukraine’s milling industry. This was stated by Rodion Rybchynskyi, Director of the Union “Millers of Ukraine,” during the panel discussion “The Voice of the Sector: from Advocacy to Partnership in Shaping Agri-Food Policy” at the XVII International Conference “Doing Agribusiness in Ukraine.”

“This decision allows businesses to plan ahead. Export-oriented companies have already invested around €17 million in modernization, and now they understand that these investments have a clear future,” Rybchynskyi emphasized.

He recalled that prior to 2022, flour had been exported under a shared quota with wheat, which made access to the EU market nearly impossible. Only after the introduction of trade preferences in 2022 did Ukrainian flour begin to enter the EU more actively — reaching 73,000 tonnes in 2023.

“That volume became a key argument in negotiations: if 73,000 tonnes were successfully delivered to the EU, then claims about Ukrainian flour not meeting European quality standards simply do not stand,” he noted.

Rybchynskyi also stressed that Ukrainian flour is now present on the markets of Germany, the Czech Republic, Spain and Italy, and that the standalone quota is the result of coordinated analytical and negotiation efforts by industry associations and government representatives. Over the first 11 months of 2025, Ukrainian flour exports to the EU reached roughly 26,000 tonnes, and the industry expects that the full quota will be utilized.

He added that the next quota review, scheduled for 2028, may open further opportunities to expand the presence of Ukrainian flour in the European market.