The deficit of Ukraine’s foreign trade in goods in January 2022 grew by 18.8% compared to the same period in 2021, to $.22 billion with an increase in exports by 53%, to $6.03 billion, and imports by almost 49%, to $6.25 billion, according to the State Customs Service of Ukraine.
Thus, the trade turnover of Ukraine in January rose by 51% compared to January 2021 and reached $12.28 billion.
As reported, in 2021, the deficit of foreign trade in goods amounted to $5.1 billion compared to $4.72 billion in 2020. Import of goods at the end of the year increased by 35.6% compared to 2020, to $73.3 billion, export by 38.3% to $68.2 billion.
Until 2030, Ukraine will increase the harvest and production of the main types of agricultural raw materials, which will allow the country to consolidate the status of a constantly growing producer and exporter of grains, oilseeds and sunflower oil, while a reduction is expected in production of sugar, milk and beef, the Ukrainian Agriculture Export Association (UAEA) reported.
As the UAEA told Interfax-Ukraine on Friday, the relevant data are contained in a joint report by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), which compares the average annual production of the main types of agricultural products for 2018-2022 with projections in 2030.
Thus, the growth of the corn crop in Ukraine is projected from 33.99 million tonnes to 44.01 million tonnes (29.4% more), wheat – from 26.01 million tonnes to 35.86 million tonnes (37.8% more), and oilseeds – from 22.04 million tonnes to 26.29 million tonnes (19.3% more).
During the specified period, an increase in production of vegetable oil is also expected from 6.88 million tonnes to 8.4 million tonnes (22.1% more), poultry meat – from 1.15 million tonnes to 1.54 million tonnes (33.9% more), pork – from 0.71 million tonnes to 0.82 million tonnes (15.5% more), and fish and seafood – from 99,000 tonnes to 101,000 tonnes (2% more).
At the same time, Ukraine is projected to reduce milk production from 9.82 million tonnes to 8.93 million tonnes (9.1% less), sugar – from 1.38 million tonnes to 1.24 million tonnes (10.1% less) and beef – from 0.37 million tonnes to 0.33 million tonnes (10.8% less).
“The current forecasts of international organizations almost always consider Ukraine as a constantly growing producer and exporter of grains, oilseeds and sunflower oil, that is, our status as a supplier of raw materials to the world market will be strengthened,” the association summed up.
Velta US Inc (the United States), the parent company of Production and Commercial Company Velta LLC with assets for the extraction of titanium containing ores in Novomyrhorod, Kirovohrad region, from January 31 this year began a series of multi-round negotiations with American partners to develop a roadmap for interaction between the Ukrainian supplier of titanium raw materials and U.S. companies and institutions that are consumers of titanium.
In 2022, supplies to the North American market will account for 65% of Velta’s total production, according to a company press release. Such growth is dictated by the shortage of high-quality titanium raw materials in the United States, as well as the high level of American interest in Ukrainian titanium, which is fixed in the law on the budget for national defense.
It is especially important for Velta to start negotiations with American partners right now, Matthew Murray, a member of the advisory board of Velta US inc. and moderator of the talks, believes.
National Defense Authorization Act No. 6505 for Fiscal Year 2022 requires the U.S. Department of State within 180 days to draw up a report on reducing America’s dependence on titanium supplies from China and Russia, including by increasing supplies from Ukraine, the press release says.
“We are firmly convinced that the new stage of negotiations will help find new points of intersection between Velta and our American partners in the titanium industry,” Andriy Brodsky, the CEO of Velta, stated.
As reported, Velta US Inc intends to increase supplies of ilmenite concentrate to the U.S. by 15-23% in 2022. At the same time, in January, Velta held a meeting of the advisory board, formed in October 2021, to discuss further expanding the company’s presence in the U.S. market, taking into account the analysis of signed contracts for 2022.
Exports of sunflower oil from Ukraine in quantity terms decreased by 15.2% in 2021 compared to 2020, to 5.13 million tonnes, while in monetary terms exports increased by 20%, to $6.38 billion, according to preliminary data published on the website of the Ukroliyaprom association on Thursday.
According to preliminary information, in general, in 2021, Ukraine exported oil and fat products worth $8.56 billion (19.6% more compared to 2020), which is 12.6% of total exports of goods from Ukraine and 30.9% of its exports of agricultural and food products.
In the structure of exports of oil and fat products, vegetable oil accounted for 74.6% of the total supply, sunflower meal – 14.9%, soybean oil – 3.4%, soybean meal – 3.0%, rapeseed oil – 2.6%, and margarine – 1.1%.
According to Ukroliyaprom, the main importing countries of Ukrainian sunflower oil in 2021 were the EU countries, where 32% of total exports were supplied, as well as India (30.5%), China (15.3%), and Iraq (5.1%). Among the EU countries, the Netherlands (10.6% of total exports), Spain (7.4%), Italy (5.0%), France (3.0%) and the UK (2.7%) imported the most Ukrainian vegetable oil.
