Ukraine in January 2024 exported the largest volume of goods since the start of the full-scale invasion – 12 million tons of products, including 8.7 million tons exported by sea, the Economy Ministry said on Monday.
“We are very close to reaching pre-war physical export volumes. In January 2024, Ukraine exported 12 million tons of products. This is only 2 million tons less than in pre-war January 2022,” First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy Yulia Svyrydenko was quoted as saying in the release.
Earlier, Taras Kachka, Deputy Minister of Economy and Trade Representative of Ukraine, told Interfax-Ukraine that in December 2023, Ukraine reached the 10 million tons export figure, which was last reached in March 2023, followed by a decline in exports to less than $3 billion a month due to Russia’s disruption of the grain corridor.
Svyrydenko added that in January, the first vessel insured against military risks under the UNITY insurance was loaded in the ports of Greater Odesa. The cost of insurance for this vessel was 0.75% of the vessel’s value, which is much cheaper than during the Black Sea Grain Initiative.
The head of the Ministry of Economy believes that the normalization of the insurance market in trade is a cornerstone element of the resumption of exports of value-added products, and the goal is to reach not only pre-war export volumes but also higher revenues, which will be facilitated by the free shipment of Ukrainian containers by sea.
“This will only be possible when the insurance market for maritime transportation recovers. That is why it is so important for us that insurance becomes more affordable and is actually used to export Ukrainian products,” the First Deputy Prime Minister said.
The Unity ship insurance program, which the Ukrainian government is implementing jointly with Marsh McLennan and a pool of insurance companies led by ASCOT, is designed to reduce the cost of insurance for the maritime transportation of grain and other important food products in Ukraine’s territorial waters, which will help, among other things, increase the volume of Ukrainian exports. The total coverage under the program is $50 million. It is estimated that the proposed insurance mechanism will reduce the cost of grain insurance by about 2.5 percentage points of the insurance rate on average, which, in turn, will allow grain traders to save about UAH 100-140 per ton of cargo, and will bring an additional UAH 4 billion to agricultural producers.
The Ministry of Economy said that Ukraine expects to expand insurance instruments to other types of exports in the future.
