The Board of the Ukrainian Agri Council (UAC) took part in an urgent meeting chaired by the Prime Minister of Ukraine Serhii Koretskyi, with the participation of the Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine Taras Vysotskyi, dedicated to the critical situation with the export of Ukrainian agricultural products under conditions of intensifying Russian attacks on port infrastructure and civilian vessels.

During the meeting, UAC participants raised the issues set out in the association's recent appeal to the Government. In particular, they emphasized that the cessation of vessel calls at Ukrainian Black Sea ports, damage to port infrastructure, export restrictions, and the sharp fall in purchase prices are already creating a real threat of loss-making production, bankruptcies of agricultural enterprises, and the disruption of the production cycle.

Particular attention was paid to supporting agricultural enterprises operating in temporarily occupied and frontline territories, as well as to issues of the reservation of workers, confirmation of enterprises' criticality, financing, and preserving export potential.

The UAC once again emphasized that the situation requires urgent anti-crisis decisions at the level of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine. Among the association's key proposals are preferential financing for agricultural producers to conduct the autumn sowing, the restructuring of current loans, state guarantees for loans, the improvement of the "5-7-9%" program, as well as the restoration and modernization of port infrastructure.

"For the agricultural sector right now, it is extremely important that the Government responded promptly to the critical situation with exports. We thank the Prime Minister for a substantive dialogue with business. During the meeting, we also raised the issues of supporting enterprises operating in temporarily occupied and frontline territories, the reservation of workers, confirmation of agricultural enterprises' criticality, and the financing of producers. We understand that all these issues cannot be resolved in a single day. But it is important that today specific areas of work have been defined, and that such meetings will take place regularly," noted the Chairman of the UAC, Andriy Dykun.

Following the meeting, the Prime Minister reported that the Government is working on diversifying and restoring supply channels, is preparing a set of measures to support the agricultural industry — in particular, in cooperation with banks regarding the financing of producers — and is strengthening diplomatic work with partner countries that are key sales markets for Ukrainian products.

The participants of the meeting agreed on priority steps, distributed responsibility for their implementation, and agreed to hold such coordination meetings regularly throughout the emergency period.