On 18 April, the Chairman of the Committee on Agrarian and Land Policy Oleksandr Haidu held a working meeting with representatives of the American Chamber of Commerce in Ukraine.
The participants discussed the need to adopt in the first reading the European integration draft Law of Ukraine “On Hops and Hop Products” (Reg. No. 9234-d), which proposes to regulate the activities of the hop industry in accordance with the action plan for the implementation of the Association Agreement with the EU.
Hop growing is one of the most labour-intensive and material-intensive industries in the agricultural sector. Hop cultivation is rightfully considered a benchmark crop of the country's highly developed agriculture.
In the European Union, hop growing is highly developed in the most advanced EU countries, such as Germany, the Czech Republic, France and Poland.
In Ukraine, the main area of hop plantations (74%) is concentrated in the Zhytomyr region. It is also the leading region in terms of gross harvest, accounting for 83% of hop production. Other hop plantations are located in Lviv, Khmelnytski and Rivne regions.
The Zhytomyr region has long grown more than 70 per cent of Ukraine’s hops. Being a highly profitable industry, hop growing provided budget revenues in the form of taxes, stable jobs in rural areas, and the development of local infrastructure. Hop cultivation in Ukraine has always been focused not only on the needs of the Ukrainian industry, but also on exports, as the quality of Ukrainian hop products meets international standards.
Increasing hop production and bringing it in line with European standards will provide the processing and food industries with domestic raw materials and increase exports of this product.
Following the meeting, the parties agreed to further cooperate on the development of urgent legislative initiatives aimed at developing and supporting Ukraine's economy in such a difficult time for the country.
The meeting was attended by the Head of the Secretariat of the Committee on Agrarian and Land Policy Oleksandr Starynets, Co-Chair of the American Chamber of Commerce Sustainability Committee Denys Khrenov, Strategic Development Manager at the American Chamber of Commerce Taisiia Klochko, Director of Government Relations at Carlsberg Ukraine Yuliia Stelmakh, Government Relations Manager at Carlsberg Ukraine Serhii Sysoiev, and Legal Director at AB InBev Efes Olha Romanova.