Exports of goods from Ukraine in June 2024 decreased by 7% compared to a year earlier and amounted to $2.77 billion, the lowest figure since the beginning of this year, the Institute for Economic Research and Policy Consulting (IER) reported on Tuesday.
According to the IER’s monitoring of foreign trade, exports of agricultural products decreased by 2% to $1.60 billion, but exports of its components developed differently: corn exports increased by 12% (21% in physical terms), while exports of wheat and oil decreased by 32% and 5%, respectively.
In June, exports of metallurgy products fell by over 9% y-o-y to $355 m. The IER believes that this likely reflected higher energy costs and a change in the structure of exports: exports of pig iron and certain types of rolled products decreased, while exports of semi-finished and other products increased.
In addition, exports of mineral products, primarily iron ore, increased by 33%, but were lower than in January-April 2024.
The IER emphasized that due to the resumption of exports from Odesa ports, the volume of iron ore exports in tons increased by 87% in June, although it was lower than in previous months due to a shortage of electricity.
Exports of mineral products grew by only 33%.
As for imports, they remained almost unchanged in June compared to May, but increased by 12% to $5.63 billion by the same period in 2023.
In terms of sectors, imports of machinery and equipment increased by almost 20% year-on-year in June 2024 (especially imports of drones, batteries, and generators), while imports of cars decreased slightly in dollar terms due to lower import prices.
Imports of energy products increased by 16% yoy due to higher imports of coke and coal, likely to meet the needs of the metallurgy sector, which increased steel production.
At the same time, imports of chemicals and food products decreased.
It is noted that the greatest impact was the growth of imports of “other goods” (primarily purchased for the needs of the Armed Forces) – under this category, goods worth $752 million were imported to Ukraine ($400 million in the previous months of the year).
As explained by the IER, the shortage of electricity led to an increase in its imports – from $6 million in June 2023 to $78 million in June 2024, as well as batteries – from $18 million a year earlier to $68 million in June 2024.
