Canadian producers of purebred sheep and goats will be able to export their livestock to Ukraine under a new agreement announced Thursday.
The Canadian government said Thursday the deal will allow Canada’s producers to expand their sales into the market and benefit Ukrainian breeders through “greater access” to Canadian genetics.
The new agreement on sheep and goats comes at the same time as an “updated and improved” veterinary health certificate for exports of purebred cattle to Ukraine, the Canadian government said.
The two countries previously agreed on a certificate in August 2012 for exports of Canadian purebred cattle, which at the time were expected to be worth nearly $12 million over the following three years.
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Last year, Canada’s live breeding cattle exports to Ukraine were worth over $1.5 million, the government said.
Agreements are also already in place between the two countries for Canadian exports of live swine, swine genetics and dairy genetics.
The announcement comes just ahead of presidential elections in Ukraine on Sunday (May 25), following the ouster of pro-Russian president Viktor Yanukovych in February and Russia’s subsequent annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula in March.
Canada, which in 2012 held a fifth round of negotiations toward a bilateral free trade deal with Ukraine, declared in March it would not recognize the outcome of a Crimean referendum on the region’s annexation.
The conflict and political crises that have rocked Ukraine this spring have also led to instability in its banking sector and toughened lending conditions for the country’s farmers. — AGCanada.com Network
