The EU is Ukraine's largest trading partner, accounting for more than a third of its trade. It is also its main source of Foreign Direct Investment.

Ukraine-EU “trade in goods and services” statistics (in millions of USD):

Among EU member states the major trading partners of Ukraine in 2014 were Germany (17.9%), Poland (13.5%), Italy (9.3%), Hungary (7.0%), Great Britain (5.8%) and the Netherlands (5.1%).

During 2014, the most exported types of goods from Ukraine to the EU countries were ferrous metals, electrical machinery and equipment, ores, slag and ash, energy materials and agricultural products.

The most imported types of goods from EU to Ukraine were energy materials, oil and oil refining products, boilers, machines, instruments and mechanical devices, pharmaceuticals, polymers, plastics, electrical machinery and equipment, land vehicles except railway, paper and cardboard.

The EU and Ukraine signed the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area (DCFTA) on 27 June 2014 as part of their broader Association Agreement.

Since 23 April 2014 Ukraine benefits from the EU Autonomous trade preferences (ATP) which have been introduced by the Regulation (EU) No 374/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 April 2014 as an element of a broad package of the EU economic and financial support of Ukraine.

In October 2014 the period of validity of the ATP has been extended to 31 December 2015 by the Regulation (EU) No 1150/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 October 2014.

The abovementioned preferences eliminate EU import duties on 94.7% of industrial goods and 83,4% of agricultural goods and foodstuff originating in Ukraine. It also foresees the application of the duty-free tariff quotas towards a number of agricultural products.

There are two options of managing duty-free tariff quotas for Ukrainian imports.

Annex II of the mentioned Regulation sets the list of goods and quota volumes which will be managed by the principle “first come – first served” pursuant to the articles 308a, 308b and 308c of the Commission Regulation 2454/93 of 2 July 1993.

Annex III of the Regulation establishes categories of goods and respective quota volumes which are subjects to licensing procedures (all interested EU importers must obtain appropriate licenses to use quotas). These procedures are being carried out by the relevant EU Member States’ authorities with a general supervision by the DG “AGRI”. More detailed information on licensing can be found in relevant Implementing Regulations of the European Commission (No 1164/2014, 1165/2014, 1166/2014, 1167/2014, 1168/2014 and 1169/2014 of 31 October 2014).

To benefit from the EU Autonomous trade preferences one must have the certificate of origin “Eur.1” issued by one of territorial branches of the Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce and Industry.