* EU, Ukraine to discuss free trade deal at Nov. 22 summit
* Breakthroughs not seen at summit - top Ukraine negotiatior
* Mutual trade peaked at $40 bln before global downturn
By Olzhas Auyezov and Pavel Polityuk
KIEV, Nov 14 (Reuters) - Ukraine and the European Union have yet to agree on terms of trade in hundreds of mostly agricultural goods, before a free trade agreement (FTA) can be signed, Ukraine's top trade negotiator says.
Trade turnover between the European bloc and the former Soviet nation peaked at $40 billion in 2008 before falling to $22 billion last year due to the global downturn. The EU is a net exporter to Ukraine.
The EU remains Ukraine's main trading partner, accounting for a quarter of Ukrainian exports and a third of its imports. The two have been holding regular FTA negotiations since early 2008 but it remains unclear when they could be concluded.
"We are not talking about any concrete date," Deputy Economy Minister Valeriy Pyatnitskiy, Ukraine's chief trade negotiator, told Reuters in an interview ahead of a EU-Ukraine summit in Brussels on Nov. 22.
No breakthroughs could be expected at the summit, he said.
"Many issues depend on finding a compromise. We are trying not to be pupils writing down a dictation from a teacher. We have not been defined as a 'younger brother' accepted into the union who needs to be taught by dictation. There must be no winners and losers."
Ukraine's main exports to the EU are agricultural products, energy, chemicals, iron, and steel. EU exports to Ukraine are mostly machinery, transport equipment, chemicals, textiles and clothing, as well as agricultural products.
AGRICULTURE MAJOR ISSUE
The EU says it offers Ukraine the highest level of trade liberalisation ever offered to a third partner which will benefit some of its top exports -- steel, textiles and clothing, and fertilisers.
But Pyatnitskiy said Ukraine was keen to carve out a niche for other sectors as well, first of all agriculture. About 400 agricultural goods are likely to be exempt from free trade under the deal, he said.
"In agriculture there are issues of state aid. Of course, the two sides' capabilities are very different," he said. "The EU subsidises exports of some of its agricultural products from time to time. We cannot afford to do that, this is expensive."
"We are saying: 'If you are exporting to us, please drop the export subsidies.' Otherwise this becomes unfair competition."
The EU, on the other hand, has rules such as minimum "entry prices" that make Ukrainian goods less competitive, Pyatnitskiy said. It also has relatively high import duties for agricultural products that Ukraine sells.
"We want to either have those duties minimised or to have significant tariff quotas (under which duties do not apply)," he said.
Intellectual property rights are also a sensitive issue as EU regulations would require Ukrainian makers of alcoholic drinks such as cognac and champagne to rebrand their products.
LOOKING FOR OPPORTUNITIES
Pyatnitskiy said other issues included cars and shipping services. Ukraine, whose ZAZ car plant produces Daewoo- and Chevrolet-developed vehicles, wants to keep a 10 percent car imports duty.
The EU, on the other hand, does not want to liberalise its land shipping sector.
"This means I can tell our car shipping companies: 'Gentlemen, you are not gaining anything out of this free trade deal'," Pyatnitskiy said.
"The EU wants us to fully liberalise imports of cars... All right, I've bought those trucks...that match all the EU standards but then I have no access to that (shipping) market."
He said it was unlikely that any breakthroughs would be announced or agreed at the forthcoming Brussels summit.
The EU is not offering Ukraine an accession programme at the moment and the sides are discussing, apart from the FTA, issues such as visa-free travel.
"We can adopt and implement all the EU laws but if it does not create new opportunities for our businesses in one sector or another to access the EU market then you have to ask the question why," Pyatnitskiy said.
"If we were talking about accession it would be one thing. When we are talking about a free trade agreement, even a deep and comprehensive one, it is still above all an issue of trade and benefits that businesses may really get. (Writing by Olzhas Auyezov; Editing by Richard Balmforth and Louise Ireland)