Ukraine exported 99.3 million tons of goods worth $28.9 billion in January-September 2024, up 36.2% in commodity terms and 6% in monetary terms compared to January-September 2023, Deputy Minister of Economy and Trade Representative of Ukraine Taras Kachka said.
According to him, in the third quarter of this year, exports amounted to 28.2 million tons, which is 36% more than in the third quarter of 2023, and the increase in monetary terms is also significant – 20.1%, it increased to $9.3 billion.
“There is also a positive trend in September-24 compared to August-24. There is a 12.6% decrease in the weight of exports, but the largest revenue for the quarter is $3.2 billion. This means that we are increasing exports of goods at the best price. This all means that exports are coming to life and are recovering at a fairly active pace,” Kachka wrote on Facebook on Tuesday.
He noted that among the exported goods, metallurgy is one of the best performers: exports of semi-finished products in commodity terms increased by 65.6% to 1.5 million tons in nine months, flat products by 86.2% to 1.1 million tons, and pipes by more than half to 338 thousand tons. Iron ore exports almost doubled, up 99.6% to 25.2 million tons.
Kachka added that cement exports are also growing: 1.3 million tons, up 31% year-on-year.
In the agricultural sector, corn (25.2 million tons exported, up 16.2%) and wheat (16 million tons, up 42.4%) remained the leaders in terms of volumes over the three quarters.
In addition, since the beginning of the year, Ukraine has already exported 4.6 million tons of sunflower oil and 3.6 million tons of meal.
Poultry exports remain stable – 334 thousand tons for 9 months, while in monetary terms there was an increase of 15% to $708 million.
“But the most interesting food product is juices: 82 thousand tons and $160 million. The growth was 65% in volume and 95.5% in value. There is also growth in the confectionery industry – cookies – $190 million (+29%), chocolate – $169 million (+38%), caramels – $151 million (+14%),” the Deputy Minister emphasized.
According to him, in September, the sugar production season began and sugar exports resumed. In September, Ukraine exported 24.7 thousand tons worth $127 million. In general, since the beginning of the year, sugar exports have already amounted to 476 thousand tons for $282 million, which is 60% more than in the same period last year.
As for imports, they amounted to $49.2 billion in January-September, Kachka said.
Most of the money was spent on oil and oil products ($5.1 billion), cars ($3.27 billion), medicines ($1.4 billion), phones/smartphones/tablets ($904 million), UAVs ($904 million), and electricity ($527 million).
