Qatar and Iraq abolished restrictions on Ukrainian poultry exports

Qatar and Iraq abolished restrictions on Ukrainian poultry exports after the outbreak of highly pathogenic bird flu in Ukraine had passed.

In the past few months, measures have been taken to localize bird diseases in Ukraine. In May, official requests were sent to trade partners of Ukraine asking to revise the restrictions on poultry exports. On 14th May, the State Service of Ukraine for Food Safety and Consumer Protection sent a final report to the World Organization for Animal Health on the recovery of the territory of Ukraine from the highly pathogenic bird flu. After publication of the report on the official website of the World Organization for Animal Health, the territory of Ukraine was considered disease free.

Let’s recall that in March this year, the European Union and eight other countries (Hong Kong, Yemen, Iraq, Jordan, Qatar, PRC, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates) imposed restrictions on the Ukrainian poultry import due to highly pathogenic bird flu on the territory of Ukraine.

During the past year, the export of Ukrainian poultry to the world market has increased significantly (by 49% in 2016). Poultry farming has a significant share in Ukraine’s meat exports – 79%. Ukrainian poultry is mostly bought in Iraq, Egypt and the Netherlands.