KYIV. April 15 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The State Statistics Service of Ukraine in February 2015, for the first time since September 2014, recorded a surplus in foreign trade with goods, totaling $135.9 million, while in February 2014 the deficit was $117.8 million.
Exports in February 2015 fell by 35.9% year-over-year, to $2.933 billion and imports decreased by 40.3%, to $2.857 billion.
In January and February 2015, exports of goods fell by 33.7% year-over-year, to $5.973 billion, and imports dropped by 37%, to $5.866 billion, with the surplus being $106.7 million compared to a deficit of $300.9 million.
The service said that Russia’s share of exports fell from 17.8% in January-February 2014 to 10.1% in January-February 2015, and its share of imports fell from 29.4% to 16.5%.
The share of supplies to Turkey grew from 6.4% to 7.7%, to China – from 5.5% to 7.4%, to Egypt from 5.9% to 6.7%, Italy from 5.2% to 5%, the Netherlands from 2.3% to 3.6%, Germany from 3% to 3.5% and the share of supplies to Poland did not change, being 5.4%.
The share of Hungary of total imports grew from 1.9% to 6.4%, Germany from 7.7% to 10.9%, China from 9.6% to 11.3%, Poland from 4.7% to 5.2%, the United States from 3.4% to 4%, France from 2.6% to 3%, while from Belarus they fell from 5.9% to 5.7%.
As reported, data from the State Statistics Service differs from data presented by the National Bank of Ukraine, which take into account informal trade. According to the NBU, Ukraine’s deficit of foreign trade with goods in February was $551 million, which is 23.5% down on February 2014. Exports fell by 34.1%, to $3.157 billion, while imports – by 41.7%, to $3.708 billion.
The NBU said that in January-February 2015, Ukraine’s deficit of foreign trade with goods was $979 million, which is 36% down year-over-year: exports fell by 32.5%, to $6.237 billion and imports dropped by 33%, to $7.216 billion.
