Ukrainian metal companies in January-February 2021 increased earnings from exports of ferrous metals by 8.2% compared to the same period last year, to $1.51 billion.
According to updated statistics released by the State Customs Service, the share of ferrous metals of total FX earnings was 17.82% compared with 17.2% a year ago.
In February, earnings from exports of ferrous metals amounted to $764.6 million.
At the same time, Ukraine reduced imports of similar products by 12.1% in January-February 2021, to $121.53 million. In February, this figure was $63.798 million.
In addition, Ukraine increased exports of metal products by 5.7% in the first two months of 2021, to $140.613 million. In February, their export amounted to $77.148 million.
During this period, imports of metal products increased by 1.4%, to $125.407 million. In February, they were imported for $72.504 million.
As reported, in 2020, Ukrainian metal companies reduced earnings from exports of ferrous metals by 12% compared to the previous year, to $7.690 billion. At the same time, Ukraine in 2020 reduced imports of similar products by 17%, to $1.040 billion.
Ukraine considers Qatar as a promising market for increasing exports of grain, poultry products, vegetable oil, as well as for expanding the range of agricultural products supplied, Head of the Ministry of Economic Development, Trade and Agriculture of Ukraine Ihor Petrashko said, following negotiations with Ambassador of the State of Qatar to Ukraine Hadi Al-Hajri.
“We understand the importance of ensuring food security in the world, therefore, we are interested in stepping up cooperation in this direction. In particular, Ukraine is making every effort to guarantee an uninterrupted supply of food to foreign markets,” Petrashko said.
The Economy Ministry said the Ukrainian agricultural sector is promising for attracting internal and foreign investments, and the mutually beneficial development of investments between Ukraine and Qatar can provide an additional impetus to trade and economic cooperation in this direction.
According to the ministry, in 2020 the trade turnover between Ukraine and Qatar increased by 69.2%, year-over-year, to $139.16 million, while the export of Ukrainian goods increased by 75.7%, to $131.61 million.
The Ukrainian Grain Association (UGA) has agreed to limit the export of corn in the 2020/2021 MY to 24 million tonnes by the end of June in the grain memorandum, since given the association’s export forecasts and the practice of such memorandums, the practical implementation of such a limitation is unlikely.
“The introduction of the maximum corn export volume in the memorandum between the Ministry of Economy and business associations representing participants in the grain market is rather a symbolic step to ensure predictability and tranquility in the grain market,” the UGA said on its website.
The association emphasized the absence of grounds for statements about the likelihood of a shortage of corn on the Ukrainian market. According to its estimates and official statistics, with a harvest of this MY of about 30 million tonnes and internal needs of about 5 million tonnes, exports by mid-January amounted to about 10 million tonnes, of which 2 million tonnes was corn from the previous MY. The UGA also recalled that this year corn exports in mid-January lagged behind last year by almost 3.5 million tonnes.
The association predicts that in the future the rate of export will decrease, as Ukraine has already passed the peak period of export of this crop. The UGA also believes that high prices for corn and benchmarks for its export will give producers a positive signal to expand the area under this crop in 2021.
In addition, the UGA notes that for all the years of the memorandums and the similar restrictions contained in them with respect to wheat, they have never been applied in practice.
The Ministry for Strategic Industries of Ukraine has identified five priorities in its activities for the current year, including increasing exports, the creation of two state-owned holding companies Defense Systems of Ukraine and Aerospace Systems of Ukraine as well as the Defense Technology Agency.
According to the message on the ministry’s website, two other priorities are rule-making and implementation of process of corporatization of Ukroboronprom enterprises, on the basis of which it is planned to form two new state-owned holdings.
Among the main documents that need to be approved this year, the ministry named the Strategy of development of the defense-industrial complex of Ukraine, the National target scientific and technical space program of Ukraine for 2021-2025, the State target scientific and technical program of development of the aviation industry of Ukraine for 2021-2030 and the National complex program of high science-intensive technologies as well as the State Defense Order for 2021.
Speaking about the Defense Technology Agency, the Ministry for Strategic Industries named the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) of the U.S. Department of Defense as an example of such a department. “The mission of the agency will be to introduce scientific and technical solutions and new technologies to create modern types of competitive weapons and military equipment,” the ministry said.
Ukraine exported in the current 2020/2021 marketing year (MY) and as of January 15 some 27.2 million tonnes of grain and legumes, while in the previous MY and as of January 20, some 33.9 million tonnes were supplied to foreign markets, the Economy Ministry said at its website with a link to the data of the State Customs Service.
“In the current 2020/2021 MY, some 12.6 million tonnes of wheat have already been exported. It fully meets the planned dynamics that we have agreed on with the specialized associations by signing the corresponding annex to the Memorandum of Understanding on the Grain Market,” Minister of Economic Development, Trade and Agriculture of Ukraine Ihor Petrashko said.
The Economy Ministry said that out of 27.2 million tonnes of grains and legumes, in addition to wheat, 3.9 million tonnes of barley, 1,700 tonnes of rye and 10.3 million tonnes of corn were also supplied to foreign markets. In addition, 81,500 tonnes of flour in terms of grain were exported.
As reported, in the 2019/2020 marketing year and as of January 20, 2020, Ukraine exported 15.5 million tonnes of wheat, 3.8 million tonnes of barley and 14.2 million tonnes of corn, as well as 207,000 tonnes of flour in terms of grain.
The Ukrainian Chambers of Commerce and Industry and export organizations assess the opportunities for the export of Ukrainian products on a 10-point scale at 7.5, and note the need for state support for export activities, which should provide for financial, legal, communication and infrastructure direction.
According to the research “Analysis of institutional support for exports among organizations of the agrarian sector of Ukraine” of the Agritrade Ukraine project, the text of which is available to the Interfax-Ukraine agency, the average assessment of the opportunities for the export of Ukrainian products on a 10-point scale (where one is very poor opportunities, while ten is very good) by participants in the study was 7.5.
Among the main factors of such an assessment were named a high existing demand abroad, good qualifications and experience of industry employees, favorable agro-climatic conditions.
At the same time, the participants in the research noted that the implementation of the export potential is impossible in full due to a saturated competitive environment, insufficient level of harmonization of production and processing standards, the complexity and lack of information about the features of certification and the inertia of some domestic farmers.
More than three quarters of the organizations (77%) that that took part in the survey noted that they have established cooperation with companies from the EU countries. Among the main problems that arise in this process and become obstacles to cooperation, they named a small amount of quotas for certain types of agricultural products, non-compliance with quality standards and certification standards, a saturated competitive environment.
Assessing the compliance of domestic agricultural products and food products with European quality standards, almost three quarters of the respondents (72%) noted that they were more likely to comply, 12% of the survey participants were sure of absolute compliance.
Approximately one fifth of the organizations (22%) that took part in the survey can fully satisfy the requests of Ukrainian companies to establish trade relations with foreign companies and companies from the EU countries (that is, 90-100% of requests).
Among the main factors that affect the ability to satisfy the requests of Ukrainian companies to establish trade relations with foreign companies and companies from the EU countries, the survey participants most often named a lack of practical experience of employees, a lack of knowledge of business English and export-import legal framework, a limited access to market information (supply-demand), lack of analytical skills and tools, the volume of quotas for the export of certain types of agricultural products, limited and insufficient advertising and marketing budgets.
