Following the confirmation of an outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza subtype H5 in Ukraine on 19 January, the European Commission has decided de facto to suspend imports of fresh poultry meat and poultry meat preparations from the whole of Ukraine. Eggs and egg products are, however, not subject to these restrictions.
Ukraine is calling on the Commission to reopen EU markets to its poultry meat.
The EU has recently adopted an agreement with Ukraine that increases the tariff quota on poultry imports by 50 000 tonnes to fill a gap for cuts of chicken breast with pieces of wing bone (see EUROPE 12377/10).
In the EU, around 15 outbreaks of the disease have already been discovered since the beginning of 2020, including on poultry farms (in Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania and, more recently, on a backyard farm in the Czech Republic and in a wild goose in Germany, near the Polish border), resulting in the death of around 300,000 birds. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)