Light Industry Seeks Separate Trade Commission with Turkey

The Ukrainian Association of Light Industry Enterprises "Ukrlegprom" has appealed to President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky, the Verkhovna Rada, and the Cabinet of Ministers with a proposal to create a permanent interdepartmental commission to monitor the implementation of the free trade agreement between Ukraine and Turkey.

This was reported by Delo.ua, citing "Interfax-Ukraine".

The association suggests that the commission should operate under the Cabinet of Ministers and must involve representatives of Ukrainian businesses. According to "Ukrlegprom", such a mechanism is necessary for the continuous analysis of the consequences of trade liberalization, primarily in sensitive sectors of the economy.

The association notes that it supports the development of international trade; however, the ratification of the agreement with Turkey requires institutional monitoring and regular dialogue between the government and business. This includes, in particular, protecting the domestic market from unfair competition, preserving the production and personnel potential of enterprises, and balancing economic interests.

"Ukrlegprom" emphasizes that the Ukrainian light industry operates under conditions of full-scale war, loss of production capacities, high logistics costs, labor shortages, and rising production costs.

According to the association, the industry provides jobs for more than 90,000 workers, has export potential, and fulfills orders for the security and defense sector.

At the same time, Turkey is one of the world's leading producers of textiles, clothing, home textiles, leather, and footwear. According to "Ukrlegprom", in 2025, Turkish exports in this sector amounted to $226.2 billion, while Ukrainian exports were only $0.9 billion. The total import of light industry goods into Ukraine was $3.2 billion, exceeding exports by 3.5 times.

The association believes that the scale of production, government support for exports in Turkey, and the integration of Turkish companies into global supply chains create significant competitive advantages for them.

"Ukrlegprom" proposes that the interdepartmental commission perform the following functions:

• systematically monitor the implementation of the agreement's provisions;
• regularly analyze the structure of imports and exports of goods;
• track the level of production capacity utilization and employment status in sensitive sectors;
• assess the impact of trade liberalization on the competitiveness of Ukrainian producers;
• prepare proposals for the application of protective mechanisms, consultations, and trade protection tools;
• coordinate the interaction of government bodies with industry business associations;
• formulate Ukraine's position in bilateral dialogue with Turkey.

The association also suggests preparing an annual public report for the Cabinet on the practical results of the agreement's implementation.

Ukrlegprom proposes to include representatives from the government, the Ministry of Economy, the Ministry of Finance, the State Customs Service, the State Statistics Service, the relevant committee of the Verkhovna Rada, industry associations, and independent experts in international trade in the commission.

The president-chairman of the "Ukrlegprom" association, Tatyana Izovit, stated that before ratifying the agreement, the government did not provide forecast economic calculations. According to her, the government's assessment of Turkish imports in the Ukrainian market of finished products does not correspond to the actual structure of individual segments.

According to Izovit, in 2025, the share of Turkish finished products in the Ukrainian textile clothing market was 22.7%, knitted clothing - 12.4%, and carpets - 36.3%.

She also noted that the agreement has potential advantages for the light industry. In particular, Ukrainian producers will be able to import Turkish fabrics or yarn, process them in Ukraine, and export finished clothing to the EU duty-free.

At the same time, according to "Ukrlegprom", the abolition of duties does not solve the problem of illegal imports due to "cargo" schemes and postal parcels. The association believes that this creates a price advantage for illegal importers over official Ukrainian enterprises.

Izovit clarified that the ratified agreement provides for the elimination of duties within one, three, and five years and will affect 553 subcategories of light industry goods.

The Verkhovna Rada ratified the free trade agreement between Ukraine and Turkey on July 14. The document was signed in February 2022.

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