As of January 15, Ukraine exported 23.616 mln tonnes of grains and pulses since the beginning of the 2024-2025 marketing year (July 2024 – June 2025), of which 1.388 mln tonnes were shipped this month, the press service of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food reported, citing the data of the State Customs Service of Ukraine.
According to the report, as of the same date last year, the total shipments amounted to 20.563 million tons, including 2.097 million tons in January.
In terms of crops, since the beginning of the current season, Ukraine has exported 10.326 million tons of wheat (413 thousand tons in January), 2.008 million tons of barley (9 thousand tons), 10.8 thousand tons of rye (0), and 10.868 million tons of corn (959 thousand tons).
The total export of Ukrainian flour since the beginning of the season as of January 15 is estimated at 39.4 thsd tonnes (1.8 thsd tonnes in January), including 36.1 thsd tonnes of wheat (1.6 thsd tonnes).
Despite the temporary occupation of part of the agricultural land by the enemy, Ukraine demonstrated good results in the agricultural sector in 2024 and was able to return the historical ways of agricultural exports, and therefore offers the Portuguese Republic to strengthen cooperation, said Vitalii Koval, Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food, at an online meeting with José Manuel Fernandes, Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries of Portugal.
“In 2024, 57% of Ukraine’s agricultural exports went to the EU countries. In total, Ukraine exported agricultural products worth $24.6 billion, including $211.6 million to Portugal,” the Ministry of Agrarian Policy’s press service quoted the minister as saying.
In addition, he emphasized that last year Ukraine returned to its historical ways of agricultural exports, as 86% of agricultural products are exported through Odesa and Danube ports. According to him, Ukraine is actively working to open new markets, particularly in Africa and the Middle East.
Koval urged his Portuguese counterpart to work together to combat the illegal sale of Ukrainian grain to Russia.
The Minister also thanked the people of Portugal for their consistent support of Ukraine and the President’s humanitarian initiative Grain From Ukraine.
In December 2024, the Export Credit Agency (ECA) supported UAH 311.47 million of exports, bringing the total to UAH 7.5 billion since the beginning of the year.
According to the ECA website, the largest number of loans for exporters in December were issued and insured by Vostok Bank (UAH 175 million), Ukreximbank (UAH 43.8 million), and PrivatBank (UAH 40.7 million).
Entrepreneurs in Odesa region (UAH 174.8 million), Dnipropetrovs’k region (UAH 174.8 million), and Zakarpattia region (UAH 43.8 million) were the most active users of ECA services.
In December, Ukrainian exporters planned to trade with Latvia, Poland, and Uzbekistan the most: they will supply grain and flour products, paper and cardboard products, and toys.
In December, the ECA insured a bank guarantee for exports of services for the first time. It was provided by Ukreximbank to the Ukrainian company C.E. Industry Group, which won a tender for the repair of mining equipment of the Polish state-owned company Polska Grupa Górnicza S.A. The contract amount is UAH 43.78 million (PLN 4.25 million), the guarantee amount is UAH 17 million, and the validity period is 13 months.
The Export Credit Agency was established to stimulate the export of goods (works, services) of Ukrainian origin and support exporters-residents of Ukraine through insurance, reinsurance, and guarantees under security contracts for export development. On January 7, 2023, the National Bank of Ukraine was authorized to regulate the activities of the ECA.
In 2024, Ukraine reduced exports of processed pig iron in physical terms by 3.4% compared to 2023, to 1 million 290.622 thousand tons.
According to statistics released by the State Customs Service (SCS), pig iron exports in monetary terms decreased by 6.1% to $500.341 million during the period under review.
At the same time, exports were carried out mainly to the United States (72.64% of supplies in monetary terms), Turkey (8.03%) and Italy (7.30%).
For the whole of 2024, the country imported 38 tons of pig iron worth $90 thousand from Germany (in January, March, May, June, July, August, October and November, there were no imports), while in the same period in 2023, it imported 154 tons of pig iron worth $156 thousand.
As reported, in 2023, Ukraine decreased exports of processed pig iron in physical terms by 5.8% compared to 2022 – to 1 million 248.512 thousand tons, while exports in monetary terms decreased by 26.2% to $471.467 million. Deliveries were made mainly to Poland (51.91% of supplies in monetary terms), Spain (21.41%) and the United States (13.15%).
In 2023, Ukraine imported 154 tons of pig iron worth $156 thousand from Germany (42.31%), Brazil (41.67%) and Poland (16.03%), compared to 40 tons of pig iron worth $23 thousand in 2022.
In 2024, Ukrainian companies increased their exports of ferrous scrap by 60.7% compared to 2023, up to 293,190 thousand tons from 182,465 thousand tons.
According to statistics released by the State Customs Service (SCS), 31,612 thousand tons of scrap were exported in December, 34,608 thousand tons in November, 24,549 thousand tons in October, 24,767 thousand tons in September, 28,287 thousand tons in August, 28,567 thousand tons in August, and 28,567 thousand tons in September. tons, September – 28,549 thousand tons, September – 24,767 thousand tons, August – 28,425 thousand tons, July – 24,702 thousand tons, June – 22,161 thousand tons, May – 14,952 thousand tons, April – 26,153 thousand tons, March – 20,907 thousand tons, February – 23,194 thousand tons, January – 17,160 thousand tons.
In monetary terms, scrap metal exports increased by 73.2% to $91.311 million from $52.723 million over the year.
Scrap metal exports in 2024 were mainly to Poland (81.80%), Greece (13.75%) and Germany (3.19%).
For the whole of last year, the country imported 104 tons of scrap metal worth $110 thousand, while in 2023 it imported 1,075 thousand tons worth $411 thousand. Imports were carried out mainly from Turkey (64.55% in monetary terms), the British Virgin Islands (16.36%) and Panama (8.18%).
As reported, in 2023, Ukraine’s scrap collection company increased the export of scrap metal from the country by 3.4 times compared to the previous year – up to 182,485 thousand tons from 53,557 thousand tons. In monetary terms, exports increased 2.74 times to $52.723 million from $19.271 million.
Earlier, Ukrmetallurgprom President Oleksandr Kalenkov stated in an op-ed on the Interfax-Ukraine website that scrap metal is exported through the European Union, which has a preferential export duty of EUR3 per ton, and from there the raw materials are redirected to real customers. He pointed out that exporting raw materials directly to customers would cost EUR180 in export duties, and the Ukrainian budget has already lost UAH 350 million.
The head of Ukrmetallurgprom called for a temporary ban on the export of ferrous scrap to provide steelmakers with strategically important raw materials during the war. He also clarified that a ton of scrap metal processed into steel brings in ten times more to the budget than the EU export duty, which is about $300 per ton.
In 2022, Ukraine reduced exports of ferrous scrap by 11.5 times compared to the previous year, to 53,557 thousand tons, and in monetary terms, it decreased by 12.4 times, to $19.271 million.
In 2024, imports of aluminum and aluminum products increased by 21.7% to $446.006 million (in December – $36.943 million). Exports of aluminum increased by 27.4% to $124.408 million, compared to $8.426 million in December.
Aluminum is widely used as a structural material. The main advantages of aluminum are its lightness, stamping resistance, corrosion resistance, high thermal conductivity, and non-toxicity of its compounds. In particular, these properties have made aluminum extremely popular in the production of cookware, aluminum foil in the food industry, and packaging. The first three properties have made aluminum the main raw material in the aviation and aerospace industries (recently it has been replaced by composite materials, primarily carbon fiber). After the construction and production of packaging, such as aluminum cans and foil, the energy sector is the largest consumer of the metal.
