Ukraine boosted exports of grain and leguminous crops 11.5% in the 2018/2019 agricultural year (July-June) so far (by January 2, 2019) to 23.098 million tonnes, as compared with the same period last year.
According to the Ukrainian Ministry of Agricultural Policy and Food, 10.47 million tonnes of wheat, 3.15 million tonnes of barley, and 9.11 million tonnes of corn were exported.
Flour exports stood at 122,008 tonnes.
It was reported, citing the Ministry of Agricultural Policy and Food, that Ukraine exported 39.4 million tonnes of grain in the 2017/2018 agricultural year. Grain exports in the 2018/2019 agricultural year are projected at 47.2 million tonnes.
Ukraine in January-November 2018 increased electricity exports by 19.8% (by 931.2 million kWh) compared to the same period in 2017, to 5.639 billion kWh, the Ministry of Energy and Coal Industry has told Interfax-Ukraine.
The supply of electricity from the Burshtyn TPP energy island towards Hungary, Slovakia and Romania increased by 21.9% (by 625.2 million kWh), to 3.474 billion kWh.
Export of electricity to Poland increased by 65.5% (by 424.6 million kWh), to 1.291 billion kWh.
Electricity supplies to Moldova amounted to 873.8 million kWh, which is 19% (204.8 million kWh) less than in January-November 2017.
Ukrainian electricity was not exported to Belarus and Russia in January-November 2017 and January-November 2018.
At the same time, in November 2018, export of Ukrainian electricity amounted to 589.2 million kWh, which is 2.3 times more than in November 2017 (258.6 million kWh).
In addition, Ukraine in January-November 2018 imported 28.507 million kWh of electricity.
Wheat production in Ukraine in 2019 will remain virtually unchanged, while exports will increase by 2 million tonnes, to 18 million tonnes, President of the Ukrainian Grain Association Mykola Horbachev has said. “Next year, wheat production will be at the same level – perhaps 1 million tonnes more, everything depends on weather. We expect more favorable conditions for yields, so we expect exports to reach 18 million tonnes this year 16 million tonnes,” he said.
According to him, the harvest and export of other grain crops next year will be almost at the level of this year, except for corn: this year Ukraine has collected a record high harvest of 35 million tonnes of corn due to high yields because of weather conditions, while with normal yields next year production will be 27 million tonnes.
The association president noted that the main importers of Ukrainian grain are the EU countries (in particular, Spain), North Africa and Asia. At the same time, in his opinion, with the increase in production, an additional volume of grain will go to Asia, where there is a large population growth (in particular, to China, Indonesia and India), whereas a large expansion on the European continent should not be expected.
Ukraine since the beginning of the 2018/2019 marketing year (MY, July-June) as of December 5 had exported 19.050 million tonnes of grain and leguminous crops, which is almost 9.2% more than on the same date of the previous MY.
According to the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food, the country exported 9.5 million tonnes of wheat, 3 million tonnes of barley, and 6.2 million tonnes of corn.
Some 98,600 tonnes of flour had been exported on the date.
In addition, the 2018 harvesting campaign is being completed in Ukraine: Ukrainian farmers harvested 69.3 million tonnes of grain from an area of 14.6 million hectares (99% of the forecast) with a yield of 47.4 centners per ha. Grain harvest in Ukraine has already exceeded the historical maximum.
As reported, with reference to the ministry, Ukraine exported 39.4 million tonnes of grain in the 2017/2018 MY. Grain exports in the 2018/2019 MY are projected to be 42.5 million tonnes. The grain harvest in Ukraine in 2017 amounted to 62 million tonnes.
Ukrainian agricultural exports to the European Union countries in January-October 2018 grew by 1.3% year-over-year, to $4.7 billion, according to a posting on the website of the Agricultural Policy and Food Ministry of Ukraine.
According to the report, over the period foreign trade flow with agricultural goods and food between Ukraine and the EU countries rose by 7.15, to $6.9 billion.
“The EU countries are extremely important partners for Ukraine in terms of trade and economic relations in the agro-industrial sector. The pace of bilateral trade in agricultural and food products confirms this. The EU’s share of the regional structure of Ukrainian agricultural export in January-October 2018 is 31.6%,” Deputy Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food for European Integration Olha Trofimtseva said.
According to her, the Netherlands ($865,500), Spain ($713,600), Italy ($583,700) and Poland ($535,300) became the largest importers of Ukrainian agricultural products among the EU countries in January-October.
“During this period, Ukrainian producers increased exports of a number of products to EU markets. First of all, these are rapeseed, meat and edible poultry byproducts, wheat, corn, dried leguminous vegetables, nuts, confectionery goods made from sugar, rapeseed or mustard oil, chocolate and other products,” Trofimtseva said.
The deputy minister said that imports of European goods showed an increase over the specified period and amounted to almost $2.2 billion. In January-October 2018, Ukraine imported from the EU countries tobacco and products from it, chocolate and cocoa beans, animal feeding products, meat and byproducts, alcoholic beverages, grain products and cereals and other products.
Ukraine of the total sales of organic raw materials and products exports 90% of goods and sells 10% in the domestic market.
“The domestic market, despite the fact that it is developing, occupies 10% of total sales, while 90% of “organic” goods are exported. Among the leading countries consuming Ukrainian organic products are the Netherlands, Germany, and the United Kingdom,” Olena Berezovska, the president of the Organic Ukraine union of producers of organic certified goods said at a press conference in Kyiv.
In total, Ukraine exports its organic products to more than 40 countries. Among the exported organic crops are maize (99,500 tonnes in 2017), wheat (58,000 tonnes), barley (22,900 tonnes), sunflower (11,600 tonnes), and soybeans (10,900 tonnes).
“According to the Organic Standard certification authority, Ukraine has 585 operators in the organic market. When we summarize statistics data for 2018, the number of organic producers will exceed 600. Now 14% of the total number of operators are processors. Of the 80 processors, 55 sell their products in the stores of the country. The growth in the sales of organic products in the key networks of Ukraine during 2018 amounted to 5%. There are more than 400 items in the product range,” Berezovska said.
According to her, in 2018 a number of Ukrainian manufacturers received the status of “organic.”
