Ukraine and Turkey: duty-free farm exports
The Free Trade Agreement between Ukraine and Turkey entered into force on October 1, 2026. Turkey is abolishing import duties on 10,337 tariff lines — about 95% of Ukraine's export range — and introducing tariff quotas or reduced rates for some other goods. Ukraine's Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food announced this on October 19.
Key figures
- In force from Oct 1, 2026
- 10,337 lines duty-free
- ≈95% of Ukraine's exports
- Soy, rapeseed, meal — 0%
- 1,348 lines under quotas
- Sunflower seed: 50,000 t
What has changed
Tariff preferences are phased in. For Ukrainian exports to Turkey, including exemption from export duty on some Ukrainian goods, they apply from October 1, 2026; for imports of Turkish goods into Ukraine and Ukrainian goods into Turkey, from January 1, 2027. Zero import duty with no quotas applies to processed oilseed and grain products — meal, cake, bran and feed concentrates — as well as soybeans, rapeseed, pulses (peas, chickpeas, lentils, beans), margarine, starch, gluten, baby food, confectionery and breeding stock. Another 1,348 agricultural tariff lines get duty-free or preferential tariff quotas and partial cuts of base rates by 20–50%, including wheat flour, butter, cheese, milk powder, beef, poultry, eggs, honey, sugar, tomato paste and juices.
In figures
Turkey is the largest importer of Ukrainian agricultural products. In 2025 bilateral agri-food trade reached $2.8 billion, with a Ukrainian surplus of $1.6 billion. Last year Ukraine exported 7.9 million tonnes of agricultural products to Turkey worth more than $2.2 billion — 9.8% of the country's total agricultural exports. Import duties in some segments of the Turkish agricultural market have been as high as 30–225%.
Sunflower seed and rules of origin
For its part, Ukraine opens a duty-free quota of 50,000 tonnes a year for sunflower seed exports to Turkey; according to the ministry, it is allocated on a first-come, first-served basis. Above the quota, Ukraine's standard 10% export duty still applies. The agreement also brings Ukraine into the Pan-Euro-Med system: Ukrainian producers will be able to process Turkish raw materials and ship finished products to the EU duty-free, subject to the rules of origin and an EUR.1 certificate. The agreement was signed on February 3, 2022, ratified by Turkey in August 2024 and by Ukraine's parliament on July 14, 2026.
What it means for a buyer
For a farm in Ukraine growing soybeans, rapeseed or pulses, the Turkish market is now open with no import duty and no quotas, and selling meal and cake through processors becomes more profitable as well. Sunflower seed is best shipped within the 50,000-tonne quota. For exporters from Kazakhstan, it means stronger competition from Ukrainian soybeans, rapeseed and pulses on the Turkish market.
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