Oksana Yurchenko, President of the Association "Pig Breeders of Ukraine"
President of Ukraine signed a draft Law of Ukraine on Amendments to Some Laws of Ukraine on Uninterrupted Production and Supply of Agricultural Products during the State of War No. 7264 which removes the ban on the transit of live animals (including pigs) on the territories of countries that have restrictions related to animal diseases.
Several weeks earlier, the Cabinet Decree No. 537 was adopted, which, in addition to the removal of the transit ban (only for the period of martial law!) allows the import of animals from farms that are not in the register (the list of countries and facilities from which live animals and reproductive material can be imported into the customs territory of Ukraine), that is, farms that have not been inspected by our competent authority. This weakening is possible only if specialists of the State Consumer Service for two years have conducted an audit and confirmed that the system of veterinary control in the states of origin of animals complies with Ukrainian legislation. Epizootic situation in their territories is also taken into account.
Recall that since November 2021 the transit of pigs through countries where cases of ASF were recorded was stopped due to the requirements of domestic veterinary legislation. This made it impossible to deliver pigs from the majority of European countries or to route them via Belarus (from Denmark) or to deliver pigs by air which increased the price of a consignment by 150 000 USD. THE COST OF THE CONSIGNMENT WAS ABOUT $150,000. With the outbreak of war these alternative routes became unavailable. Therefore, the Association "Pig Breeders of Ukraine" together with the leadership of the State Consumer Service, the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine and the Verkhovna Rada Committee of Ukraine on Agrarian and Land Policy achieved a change in legislation, which resumed the supply of genetics in Ukraine.
Was Ukraine cut off from genetics from the moment of the ban until the adoption of the regulations that repealed it? No. Pig breeders had access to purebred pigs and repair pigs raised by domestic breeding enterprises. In addition, before the war genetic pigs were imported from Denmark via Belarus.
Will the supply of pedigree animals resume now that the transit ban on the countries where ASF was registered no longer exists? Yes. The main suppliers of foreign genetics from England, Denmark, Ireland, Spain, Holland and France say so. However, they add that imports will not be active during the summer period because of high temperatures, which negatively affect the condition of pigs and can increase the percentage of deaths during transport. Some EU countries even prohibit exports for the period from July to mid-September.
It should be noted that now only purebred animals can be imported to Ukraine. Their UKTVED code is included in the list of critical import goods. Commercial pigs (this group includes breeding pigs) are not in it, so they cannot be delivered to Ukraine during martial law.
Producers should take into account that it is unlikely to receive a partial reimbursement of purchased breeding animals this year. Although this program of state support is valid, there are no funds in its fund. At the moment only the program of partial compensation of credit load "Affordable credits 5-7-9" is available for the domestic agrarians.
The Association of Ukranian Pig Breeders — is a nonprofit, voluntary organization founded by domestic pork producers. The main purposes of the association are representation and protection of rights and interests of the association farms, assistance in development and implementation of new technologies for efficient production of pork, expansion of sales markets, and protection of domestic sales market.