The "UkrOliyaProm" association opposes attempts to use the forced suspension of operations at a number of oil extraction plants due to Russian shelling as a pretext for abolishing export duties on sunflower, soybeans, and rapeseed, emphasizing that this would harm the domestic economy.
As stated in the statement of the industry association on Friday, the oil and fat industry is currently operating under heightened security and logistical challenges: due to Russian strikes on food industry enterprises and energy infrastructure, some plants have temporarily suspended operations in accordance with safety protocols to protect workers and equipment. After the situation stabilizes, the enterprises will return to their usual mode of operation.
The association assured that there are no grounds for concern regarding the supply of the domestic market, since annual sunflower oil consumption in Ukraine is about 400-500 thousand tons, which is less than 10% of the output of domestic enterprises. According to the association's estimates, the processing capacities available in the country are sufficient to process the entire harvested crop of sunflower, soybeans, and rapeseed during the season.
At the same time, "UkrOliyaProm" drew attention to proposals to abolish the export duty on oilseeds under the pretext of a temporary shutdown of processing enterprises. The association emphasizes: the export duty on sunflower seeds made it possible to create a processing industry in Ukraine and bring the state to the world leaders in sunflower oil exports, whereas its abolition will lead to the loading of processing capacities in neighboring European Union countries and Turkey at the expense of Ukrainian raw materials.
Regarding soybeans and rapeseed, the association recalled that agricultural producers who grow these crops themselves are already exempt from paying duties when exporting their own harvest, and the customs duty applies exclusively to intermediaries interested in exporting raw materials abroad. According to industry representatives, the abolition of duties will not increase the throughput capacity of borders and ports, but after the plants resume operation, it will leave Ukrainian enterprises without raw materials and the state budget without taxes and foreign currency revenue.
"We will get through the temporary difficulties, and the plants will return to work. The main thing today is not to make decisions that will cross out years of development of our processing industry and turn Ukraine back into a supplier of raw materials," the statement quotes the words of Stepan Kapshuk, general director of the Ukroliyaprom association.
"UkrOliyaProm" unites the largest oil and fat enterprises of Ukraine and a number of small producers. As stated on its website, the enterprises that are members of the association account for more than 80% of domestic production of vegetable oils and margarine products, as well as about 26% of mayonnaise production.
As reported, the day before, Ukraine's largest producer and exporter of sunflower oil, the agroholding "Kernel," announced a complete technological shutdown of all eight of its oil extraction plants due to massive Russian attacks on food industry facilities.
Earlier, on November 10, as a result of a series of strikes by Russian drones, the Nizhyn Fat Combine suffered significant damage and halted production, and on November 8, after a Russian airstrike, a soybean processing plant of the Astarta agroholding in Poltava Oblast suspended operations.