Ukraine reduced iron ore exports 24.2% year-on-year in H1 2022 to 17.011 million tonnes, the State Customs Service said.
The imports fell 44.8% in value to $2.159 billion.
Most of the exports were to Slovakia – 18.68% in value, followed by China – 17.55% and Poland – 14.65%.
Ukraine imported 13 tonnes of iron ore commodities for $24,000 in H1 2022, compared with 1,133 tonnes for $129,000 in H1 2021. Most of the imports in H1 2022 came from the UK – 84.62%, followed by Russia and Italy at 7.69% each.
Iron ore exports fell 4.2% in 2021 to 44.358 million tonnes but rose 62.8% in value to $6.9 billion. Most of the exports went to China – 41.90% in value, the Czech Republic- 9.65% and Poland – 7.99%.
Ukraine imported 1,202 tonnes of iron ore in 2021 for $184,000 and 123,000 tonnes in 2020 for $75,000. Last year’s imports came from Egypt – 55.98%, the Netherlands – 21.2% and Poland – 7.07%.
In the first half of 2022, the State Customs Service allowed 56.9 million tonnes of goods (excluding pipeline transport) to be exported through the customs border of Ukraine, which is 44.5% less than in the first half of last year (101.1 million tonnes).
According to service’s website, the import of goods to Ukraine fell even more by 58.3%, to 17.8 million tonnes (from 42.7 million tonnes).
During the reporting period, pipelines moved 19.9 million tonnes, which is almost a third less than in the first half of 2021 (29.5 million tonnes).
The main reason for the drop in tonnage is the war and seaports blocked by Russia: the number of sea vessels allowed by the State Customs Service in January-June decreased by 64.3%, to 2,700 (from 7,600).
According to the ministry, the number of railway cars passed through the customs border of Ukraine in the first half of 2022 amounted to 800,300, which is 32% less than in the first half of 2021.
At the same time, the number of river vessels increased by 54.4%, from 6,800 to 10,500, and vehicles – by 9.8%, to 3.635 million.
The number of registered vehicles for import in the first half of the year amounted to 2.2 million, for export – 2.3 million, which almost corresponds to last year’s figures – 2.3 million each.
The State Customs Service also noted that the monetary turnover in the first half of 2022 decreased by 21%, to $48.03 billion, including exports by 24%, to $22.73 billion, and imports by 19%, to $25.3 billion.
At the same time, trade with the EU increased by 1%, to UAH 25.06 billion, including exports by 13%, to $13.41 billion, while imports decreased by 10%, to $11.65 billion.
In January-June 2022, Ukraine increased its revenue from electricity exports by 1.6 times (by $61.76 million) compared to the same period in 2021, to $169.998 million, according to the State Customs Service.
According to Interfax-Ukraine estimates, over six months electricity was supplied to Slovakia for $48.968 million, Poland for $46.649 million, Hungary for $40.408 million, and other countries for $33.973 million.
In June this year, electricity export revenue amounted to $18.579 million compared to $30.263 million in June 2021.
In addition, Ukraine in January-June 2022 imported electricity for $102.115 million versus $58.598 million for the same period last year. In particular, from Belarus for $100.414 million, Slovakia for $0.873 million, Romania for $0.491 million, and other countries for $0.337 million.
In June this year, Ukraine imported electricity for $0.001 million versus $1.943 million in June 2021.
Foreign exchange earnings from the export of agricultural products from Ukraine from March to May, during the three months of the war with the Russian Federation, are approximately comparable to the export figures for one pre-war month, Minister of Agricultural Policy of Ukraine Mykola Solsky said in an interview with AgroPolit.
According to him, in January 2022, Ukraine exported agricultural products worth $3.14 billion, in February – $2.54 billion, in March – $0.84 billion, in April – $0.9 billion, and in May – $1.21 billion.
“We see that foreign exchange earnings from the agro-industrial complex during the war fell threefold … That is, in March-May, agricultural exports amounted to $ 2.95 billion, while this was the traditional amount for one month (before the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation – IF-U)”, Solsky emphasized.
As reported with reference to the Deputy Minister of Economy – Trade Representative of Ukraine Taras Kachka, Ukraine in the 2021/2022 marketing year (MY) exported 61.52 million tons of grain and oilseeds worth $22.2 billion.
According to him, wheat exports amounted to 18.7 million tons worth $4.8 billion, corn – 23.54 million tons worth $5.8 billion, barley – 5.74 million tons worth $1.3 billion.
Kachka added that the export of 4.3 million tons of sunflower oil brought $5.8 billion, 3.4 million tons of sunflower meal – $960 million tons and 421 thousand tons of soybean meal – $230 million.
According to him, 1.1 million tons of soybeans for $641 million, 2.7 million tons of rapeseed for $1.7 billion and 1.09 million tons of sunflower seeds for $616 million were also exported.
AGRO-INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX, EARNINGS, EXPORT, FOREIGN EXCHANGE, PRODUCTS
Proceeds from sales of NPC Ukrenergo’s available interstate transmission capacity for electricity exports to Romania and Slovakia amounted to UAH 200.3 million since the opening on June 30.
These data are based on the results of the latest auctions in the Romanian and Slovak directions, held on July 10 with delivery on July 12. According to them, the section price to Slovakia was UAH 10.3 million and to Romania – UAH 10.2 million.
Traditionally, the most active participants in these auctions are DTEK Zakhidenergo, ERU Trading, and Le-Trading Ukraine.
At the same time, Energoatom began to participate in auctions for the export of electricity to Slovakia from the moment they started on July 5 for supplies on July 7 (two days before delivery). For the first time, the company bought almost 500 MWh of the possible 1200 MWh for export at the auction on July 9 with delivery on July 11. The plans for July 12 are to export 131 MWh.
At the same time, Ukrhydroenergo, which for the first time bought out a section to Slovakia for export of 148 MWh on July 9, and then for export of 110 MWh on July 10, ended the last two auctions with delivery on July 11 and 12 to no avail.
Auctions with delivery on July 10 became an anti-record at the cross-section price: for Slovakia, it fell on this day to UAH 11/MWh with delivery at 12-16:00, and the highest was UAH 2,390 /MWh at 23:00. For Romania, the lowest price was UAH 100/MWh at 13-14:00, the highest was a little over UAH 2,200/MWh with delivery at 21:00-23:00. For comparison: according to the results of all auctions, the price for Romania was the lowest on July 3 – UAH 1,380/MWh.
It is noteworthy that Ukrhydroenergo reserved most of its daily resource at the lowest prices in both directions.
In general, in both directions, the price of a section on July 10 amounted to a little more than UAH 2 million.
As of July 11, this figure was already ten times more – UAH 20.5 million.
The section from Slovakia and Romania for July 10-12, as before, was not reserved.
The section to Poland continues to be purchased at daily auctions in addition to the 147 MW capacity purchased at the monthly auction by DTEK Zakhidenergo – at 65 MW every hour (1,560 MWh per day) on July 10-12.
The daily cross-section to Moldova on July 10-12, according to the traditional scenario, was divided by Energoatom, which bought out a cross-section for export of 9,400 MWh per day, and Ukrhydroenergo – 2,400 MWh per day.
The section price at all auctions, except for exports to Romania, is UAH 0/MWh.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky called for the export of Ukrainian goods and services to Europe, which will help mitigate the blow inflicted on the economy of the continent by Russian aggression.
“Russia launched a large-scale attack on Europe from Ukraine, because Russia understands the importance of Ukraine for the European project. Russia will inevitably lose, because Europe cannot be split, not divided into parts, as it was before,” he said, speaking on Friday on videoconferencing in the Slovenian Parliament.
“They say in Moscow that they are not enemies of Europe. But Russia has hit the Europeans with a gas crisis. They are trying to keep European gas storage facilities empty before winter. Russia has driven gas prices in Europe to historic highs, deliberately limiting supplies. This has led to catastrophic inflation “, he noted.
According to Zelensky, “Russia is preparing another strike – migration. When the Russian fleet blocked our ports, it was a conscious decision against everyone in the world who depends on food imports. And you see the consequences, but this is only the beginning.”
“Without our food, it will not be possible to stabilize the food market. If there is a famine in Africa and Asia, then you will see new migrants on the territory of the European Union. Millions of new migrants,” the president said.
Zelenskiy said that importing Ukrainian electricity would help mitigate the energy crisis in Europe. “We have a surplus of electricity, even now, when Russian marauders are taking solar power plants out of Ukrainian regions and by their actions have significantly limited our coal generation,” he said.
“We can increase exports 10 times or more, and this will allow us to replace a significant part of Russian gas imports with Ukrainian electricity. All of Ukraine’s European neighbors can get new energy stability and lower energy prices in Europe thanks to Ukrainian electricity,” Zelensky said.
He recalled Ukraine’s gas storage facilities, the most convenient for our region, which can strengthen the European gas market and make the EU more prepared for the winter seasons.
“Together with our partners in the EU, we are creating new food export routes,” Zelensky said. Enormous opportunities arise from the integration of our country into the EU digital market, the president added.
“In order to get through to you, they have to get through us. Therefore, everyone in Europe is interested in Ukraine winning,” Zelensky concluded.
