Ukrainian mining enterprises reduced the export of iron ore raw materials in quantity terms by 4.2% in 2021 compared to 2020, to 44.358 million tonnes.
According to updated statistics released by the State Customs Service on Friday, over the specified period, foreign exchange earnings from the export of iron ore increased by 62.8%, to $6.900 billion.
Iron ore was exported mainly to China (41.90% of supplies in monetary terms), the Czech Republic (9.65%) and Poland (7.99%).
Last year, iron ore raw materials were imported to Ukraine for $184,000 in a total volume of 1,202 tonnes, while in 2020 some 123 tonnes of iron ore were imported for $75,000.
Imports for 2021 were from Egypt (55.98%), the Netherlands (21.2%) and Poland (7.07%).
Mining enterprises of Ukraine in 2021, according to operational data, increased the export of iron ore in monetary terms by 62.91% compared to the previous year, to $6.91 billion.
According to preliminary summarized statistics released by the State Customs Service on Tuesday, iron ore exports in December amounted to $276.18 million, while in November it was $312.75 million, October it was $371.09 million, September $472.96 million, August $777.958 million, and July $782.04 million.
As reported, in 2020 Ukraine increased iron ore exports by 16% compared to the previous year, to 46.293 million tonnes, while foreign exchange earnings from iron ore exports grew by 24.7%, to $4.239 billion.
In 2020, iron ore was imported to Ukraine for $75,000 in a total volume of 123 tonnes, while in 2019 it was 14,245 tonnes for $1.412 million.
Ukraine exported furniture worth almost $1 billion in January-November 2021, which is 43% more than in the same period last year, Oksana Donska, the head of the cluster platform of the Ukrainian Association of Furniture Manufacturers.
“The Ukrainian furniture industry exported furniture for almost $1 billion, which is 43% more than in the same period last year. Compared to previous periods, this is an absolute record, and in comparison with neighboring Poland, with the same forest resources and human capital, this is 14 times less,” Donska said at a press conference in Kyiv.
In her opinion, in order to increase the production and export of furniture, Ukraine, first of all, needs a transparent and stable market for raw materials, clustering (association of furniture makers based on industrial parks), as well as a trilateral partnership of business, education and authorities in personnel training.
According to Donska, within the framework of the strategy being developed, Ukrainian furniture makers set a task to enter the top 10 furniture exporters in the next 10 years.
“Today the leader is China, which exports furniture dozens of times more than Germany, which ranks second, Poland is third. That is, we want to catch up with Poland and Germany, exporting furniture for at least $14 billion. Today, Ukraine exports furniture to 199 countries of the world, and more than half goes to Germany and Poland, but for re-export. And today we have every opportunity to enter the direct markets for the sale of our products,” the expert said.
According to her, the amount of foreign investments in the furniture industry over the past 5-8 years has exceeded EUR1 billion.
“Ukraine has all the prospects in the next 10 years to increase it by 5 times. Today Belgium, Austria, Canada, Denmark, the United States, France have already invested in the furniture industry – that is, the world leaders trust us and open their enterprises,” the expert noted.
According to President of the Ukrainian Association of Furniture Manufacturers Volodymyr Patis, attracting investments will allow to create an additional 200,000 jobs during this time.
“In the furniture industry, the quality of the workplace is changing a lot: there is a rethinking, automation, and today workers have a fairly high salary, which already competes with salaries in Poland,” he said.
Ukrainian metallurgical enterprises in January-September this year increased earnings from exports of ferrous metals by 80% compared to the same period last year, to $10.33 billion.
According to updated statistics released by the State Customs Service, in September, earnings from ferrous metal exports amounted to $1.39 billion.
At the same time, Ukraine in January-September this year increased imports of similar products by 42.39%, to $1.08 billion. In September, this figure was $181.73 million.
In addition, Ukraine in January-September 2021 increased exports of metal products by 33.16%, to $870 million. In September, they were exported for $123.72 million.
In January-September 2021, imports of metal products grew by 25.43%, to $790 million. In September alone, imports totaled $96.99 million.
The volume of exports of furniture and its parts in January-July 2021 increased by 70.5% compared to 2020 and amounted to $511.9 million, the Ukrainian Association of Furniture Manufacturers has reported, citing data from the State Customs Service.
At the same time, furniture was exported to the countries of the European Union for $451.4 million, Asia – $9.8 million, the United States – $4.8 million.
The increase in furniture exports in January-June 2021 amounted to 82.2%, the association says.
Lyst-Ruchky LLC (Ruchky village, Poltava region), part of Astarta agro-industrial holding, exported the first batch of organic soybeans under a contract with the German processing company Agriprotein GmbH, the agricultural holding’s press service reported.
“A supply contract of organic soybeans was concluded with the German processing company Agriprotein GmbH. As per contract, the quality of delivered products has to be confirmed in two stages. The first samples of soybeans were selected and tested by the European laboratory Galab (Germany) prior to signing a contract. The organic origin of the product and its high quality was confirmed. The second stage of the inspection took place upon delivery and organic status of soybeans was reaffirmed,” the company said on its website.
“As reported, last year Astarta completed a three-year journey to the first harvest of organic grain and oilseeds crops in sync with the European trend of expanding organic farming methods. In the 2021 season, the total area of the company’s land bank under organic products is 1,800 ha with the following crops: soybeans, millet, mustard, sunflower, corn and winter wheat,” the report says.
“The company also plans to certify this crops according to Bio Suisse (Switzerland) and USDA NOP (USA) standards,” it said.
As reported, Lyst-Ruchky in July 2020 received a certificate of a manufacturer of organic products. To confirm this status, it took three years of work in a transitional period, the corresponding intermediate inspections and certifications.
