KIEV, May 5 (Xinhua) -- Ukraine on Friday welcomed the European Parliament (EP)'s decision to expand trade preferences for the country, which granted it additional food exports quotas.
"The decision to increase quotas on Ukrainian agricultural products is important for us as it will expand our export opportunities," Ukrainian Agriculture Minister Taras Kutovyi said in a statement.
The new trade preferences will bring Ukraine an estimated 200 million U.S. dollars in additional exports revenues, Kutovyi said.
On Thursday, the EP's Committee on International Trade voted to expand the quotas on duty-free imports from Ukraine of such products as honey, grape juice, and food made of corn, barley and oats.
Last year, Ukraine's agricultural exports to European Union (EU) countries increased by 1.6 percent to 4.2 billion dollars.
In January 2016, Ukraine and the EU launched a free trade agreement, which removed custom tariffs on over 90 percent of goods traded between the sides. The deal imposed annual quotas on 36 types of goods, mostly food, exported by Ukraine.
