Nigeria intends to implement new logistics projects to increase and make more predictable the exports of agricultural products from Ukraine, a similar intention announced earlier by Senegal.
The Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine Mykola Solskyi has reached the relevant agreements during the meeting with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Federal Republic of Nigeria Jeffrey Onyeama and the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Mohammad Mahmoud Abubakar, the website of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy reported on Wednesday evening.
It is specified that the meeting took place within the framework of the visit of the delegation of the Ukrainian Ministry to the countries of Africa.
The parties discussed opportunities for cooperation and expansion of trade relations between the countries, in particular the creation of a logistics hub for permanent supplies of agricultural raw materials and food products.
As reported, on January 9, Solskyy signed a memorandum of understanding in Senegal, which provides for the development of bilateral trade in agricultural products, cooperation in scientific research, investment, relations between public institutions and private organizations of Ukraine and Senegal.
It also refers to the possibility of storage of Ukrainian grain in the so-called grain hubs. At the same time, the head of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy said at the meeting that Ukraine is ready to export to African countries not only agricultural products, but also other goods, but it is necessary to focus on the development of logistics.
The Joint Coordination Center (JCC) reported that due to unfavorable weather conditions, vessels were unable to leave Ukrainian ports during Tuesday.
“On January 10, due to unfavorable weather conditions, not a single vessel left Ukrainian ports within the framework of the Black Sea grain initiative,” the report reads.
It is noted that “due to the strong wind and large waves, the team of joint inspection was not able to board the vessels to conduct inspections”.
On January 9, dry cargo vessels were also reportedly unable to leave Ukrainian ports due to bad weather.
Five dry-cargo carriers headed for Ukrainian ports, which passed through the maritime humanitarian corridor on Tuesday.
The SCC reported that “76 applications for participation in the initiative have been submitted.”
“As of January 10, the total tonnage of grain and other agricultural products exported from the three Ukrainian ports is 16,945,661 tons. A total of 1,264 dry cargo ships have been allowed to move so far: 631 to arrive at Ukrainian ports and 633 to leave them,” summarized the JCC.
Six ships with agricultural products left Ukrainian ports on Thursday, the Ministry of Community Development, Territories and Infrastructure said in its Telegram channel.
According to its data, six ships with 355 thousand tons of agricultural products on board have left the ports of Greater Odessa, 13 more ships (282 thousand tons of agricultural products) are being loaded.
In addition, the ports are preparing to receive six more ships, which follow the “grain corridor”.
“There are 102 vessels waiting for inspection by the Joint Coordination Center in the Bosporus. The Russian side continues to hinder inspections under any pretext, limiting the export of Ukrainian agricultural products to world markets,” the ministry states.
According to his data, since August 1, 2022, 626 ships have left the ports of Big Odessa, which exported 16.8 million tons of Ukrainian food to Asia, Europe and Africa.
Ukraine last year exported, according to preliminary data, 99.8 million tons of products and goods of all kinds for a total of $44.1 billion, which is respectively 38.4% and 35% less than in 2021.
“Nevertheless, in war conditions it is a feat: to export almost 100 million tons of products (of which 16.3 million tons through the grain corridor) under conditions of the blockade of ports and constant attacks on the infrastructure. This is the first year that export volume and logistics have come to the fore,” Taras Kachka, deputy minister of economy and trade representative of Ukraine, wrote on Facebook on Wednesday.
According to his data, exports of 24.99 million tons of corn last year brought Ukraine $5.94 billion (+1% by 2021), revenue from foreign shipments of 4.29 million tons of sunflower oil (-16, 3%) was $5.46 billion (-14.4%), from 23.9 million tons of iron ore (-45.9%) – $2.9 billion (-57.8%), from exports of 11.2 million tons of wheat (-44.1%) – $2.6 billion (-44.7%), and from exports of 3.12 million tons of rape (+17%) – $1.54 billion (-8.6%).
“Sunflower seed made its way into the top 10 exports. We exported it 2.7 million tons worth $1.26 billion, 33 times more than last year. This is the volume that the oil extraction plants could not process. I hope that in 2023 we will have a reverse flow, when seed exports will decrease and oil exports will increase proportionally,” Kachka said in a statement.
According to his data, the export of one of the traditional leaders of industrial exports – 65.9 thousand tons of insulated wires brought Ukraine last year $1.32 billion, which is 16.4% less than in 2021. This reduction was caused by a 13.6% drop in wire exports.
“Next in the ranking – semi-finished steel products and hot-rolled steel – illuminate the whole tragedy of the Ukrainian metallurgy. The drop in volume for the year is -72%. Total exports of semi-finished steel 1.9 million tons worth $1.1 billion, and hot-rolled steel 1.3 million tons worth $1 billion. But even more vividly compare January and December. In January there were 404 thousand tons, in December – 31 thousand tons,” emphasized the trade representative.
Kachka specified that foreign sales of soybeans in 2022 was a rare case of significant growth in spite of the war: physical volume of export increased 81.6% up to 1.99 million tons compared to 2021, while revenues increased by 43% up to $862 million.
In turn, poultry exports were down 10% by 2021 to 413,000 tons, but it brought in 19% more revenue – $852 million.
According to the trade representative, geographically 63% of exports were in the EU ($27.9 billion). Among the EU countries, last year Poland ($6.6 billion), Romania ($3.8 billion), Hungary ($2.27 billion), Germany ($2.23 billion), Italy and Spain ($1.5 billion) received the most.
Outside the EU, the largest export market is Turkey ($2.9 billion), which is ahead of China ($2.46 billion), although it is respectively 29% and 69% less than in 2021.
In addition, imports to Ukraine in 2022 in physical terms have almost halved (-48.1%), and in monetary terms – 19.6%. In 2021, Ukraine imported 35 million tons of products worth $58 billion.
“Of the 99.8 million tons by sea exported 53.8 million tons. This is 55% less than last year. By rail, 33.7 million tons were exported. “Iron” stability is +3.4% or +1.1 million tons compared to 2021. 12 million tons were exported by road, and that’s a fantastic 32.4% increase over 2021,” the trade representative summarized in a statement.
Ukraine exported 7.0 million tons of agricultural products in December 2022, down 2% from the previous month, the Ukrainian Agribusiness Club (UCAB) said on its Facebook page on Monday.
“3% of these exports were made through the “grain corridor”, the rest through alternative export routes. However, it is necessary to take into account that not all products had time to physically cross the border. A lot of products are now in line for export both by rail and road transport, which will negatively affect exports by alternative routes next month”, – Association specifies in its report.
UCAB noted that 4.9 million tons of crops were exported in December 2022, which is 4% more than in November. By crops, 3.09 million tons of corn (63% of total), 1.67 million tons of wheat (34%) and 147 thousand tons of barley (3%) were exported to foreign markets.
Ukraine also exported 868 thousand tons of oilseeds during this period – a third less than in November. Ukraine exported 295 tons of sunflower seeds (34%), 251 tons of soybeans (29%) and 217 tons of rapeseed (25%).
UCAB also noted that exports of vegetable oils in December fell by 9% against the previous month – down to 468 thousand tons, 94% of which was sunflower oil (440 thousand tons) and 6% soybean oil (29 thousand tons). In turn, exports of sunflower and soybean cake and meal increased by 58% to 506 thousand tons, including 90% of sunflower waste (455 thousand tons) and 10% of soybean oil (51 thousand tons).
“The greatest changes in the structure of exports in December 2022 are associated with a decrease in export shipments of oilseeds, which showed a drop of one-third from the previous volumes. This is primarily due to a decrease in export volumes of rapeseed. The rape grown in 2022 and intended for export is almost completely exported, there will be no significant shipments of this crop until next year’s harvest”, – UCAB stressed in the report.
However, the reduction in rapeseed exports will allow for increased shipments of other crops, particularly oilseed cake.
“In any case, Ukraine still has a significant amount of products destined for export, and there is a stable demand for Ukrainian agribusiness products in the world market. With current export volumes, it is gradually possible to take out stocks of grown products and partially generate foreign exchange earnings. The prices in Ukraine are still low, and logistics costs “eat up” the entire profit of the agrarians, which in turn jeopardizes the sowing season 2023″, the organization stated in its report.
As previously reported UCAB, Ukraine exported 7.2 million tons of agricultural products in November 2022, in October and September – 6.9 million tons, in August – 4.6 million tons, in July – 3.0 million tons and in June – 2.7 million tons. According to the Ministry of Agrarian Policy of Ukraine, in May agricultural exports amounted to 1.74 million tons, in April – 0.96 million tons and in March – 0.33 million tons.
Prior to the full-scale military invasion by the Russian Federation, Ukraine exported on average 5-6 million tons of agricultural products per month, mostly through its maritime infrastructure in the Black Sea.
Some Ukrainian pork producers and processors plan to start exporting pork to EU next year as they study European regulations and prepare for unofficial audits on the compliance of their products with export requirements.
At the moment, four Ukrainian enterprises of the industry are interested in launching pork exports to Europe, according to the website of the Association of Ukrainian Pork Producers (ASU) on Thursday.
“We have been working with experts and the veterinary service to have “draft” questionnaires ready in advance for enterprises that want to check whether they meet the requirements of EU regulations. A number of processors interested in exporting pork have gone through these questionnaires to assess what they need to polish to prove their compliance with regulations,” the organization quotes its president Oksana Yurchenko as saying.
According to her data, the EU “has a certain understanding” that next year may be introduced certain indulgences for Ukrainian pork products, which before the full-scale Russian aggression was not even particularly discussed.
“Next year, in cooperation with international organizations, we will start informal audits to support such producers. Now there are four enterprises,” Oksana Yurchenko stressed in a statement.
According to ACU estimates, the European Union will be open to exports of Ukrainian pork for up to two years, and this is not a pessimistic scenario.
In turn, the industry is promoting the official approval of international certificates for the export of pork to Vietnam and Hong Kong, but so far it is not very relevant, because the sea routes are closed due to the aggression of Russia, and other logistics for producers financially unprofitable.
As reported, on May 11, 2022, the European Commission allowed the export of pork, beef and processed meat products produced in Ukraine to third countries via the EU.
As of February 1, 2022, the total number of pigs in Ukraine amounted to 5.56 million, a decrease of 3.4% compared to the same date in 2021. Data for the following months was not published by the State Statistics Committee due to the beginning of full-scale Russian military aggression in Ukraine.
Consumption of pork per capita in Ukraine this year will be 20 kg/year, up slightly from 19.9 kg/year in 2021. A total of 625 thousand tons of meat and meat products will be produced in the country during the year.
