The deficit of Ukraine’s foreign trade in goods in January-November 2020 decreased 58.6% compared to January-November 2019, to $3.897 billion from $9.417 billion, the State Statistics Service reported on Thursday.
According to its data, the export of goods from Ukraine for the reporting period compared to the same period in 2019 fell by 3.5%, to $44.347 billion, imports narrowed by 12.9%, to $48.244 billion.
The State Statistics Service said that in November, compared with October 2020, the seasonally adjusted export volume increased 2.5%, to $4.374 billion, imports grew by 4.3%, to $4.791 billion.
The seasonally adjusted foreign trade balance in November 2020 posted a deficit and amounted to $0.417 billion, a month earlier it also showed a deficit being $0.323 billion.
The ratio of exports to imports in January-April of this year amounted to 0.92 (in January-November-2019 it was 0.83).
The State Statistics Service said that foreign trade operations were carried out with partners from 232 countries.
The Ministry of Infrastructure of Ukraine expects that in 2021 the volume of transit of goods through the territory of Ukraine will recover to the level of 2019.
“We are waiting for the resumption, growth of transit. We would definitely recover to the level of 2019. But in order for it to grow, we need the economies of countries that send goods to each other develop,” Infrastructure Minister of Ukraine Vladyslav Krykliy said in an exclusive interview with Interfax-Ukraine.
The minister also said that the pandemic has fundamentally changed communications between countries.
“Probably, the greatest positive thing from the coronavirus, so to speak, is that we switched to more dynamic communications, including on the creation of digital transport corridors. If a year ago the issue of digital corridors, uniform transport rules and a single document was considered a prospect, which we must strive for, now digitalization is a necessity,” he said.
According to Krykliy, this is the only way the countries participating in the East-Europe transit traffic will be able to build alternative transport corridors that will develop through a digital tool, information exchange and through the interaction of all operators participating in these intermodal transportation, in order to eventually become competitive with Russia.
Transport enterprises of Ukraine (excluding the territory of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol, as well as part of the JFO zone) in January-August 2020 reduced transportation of goods by 13.4% compared to the same period in 2019, to 382.2 million tonnes, the State Statistics Service has reported.
According to the report, the freight turnover of carriers for the specified period decreased by 17.1%, to 185.7 billion tonne-kilometers.
According to statistics, for the eight months of this year, 196.7 million tonnes of cargo were transported by rail in domestic traffic and for export, which is 5.3% less than in January-August 2019. Some 119.4 million tonnes (23.5% less) were transported by road, 3.3 million tonnes (12.4% less) by water, 62.7 million tonnes (15% less) by pipeline, and 100,000 tonnes by air (10.7% less).
The deficit of Ukraine’s foreign trade in goods in January-July 2020 decreased by 57.3% compared to January-July 2019, to $2.120 billion from $ 4.968 billion, the State Statistics Service has reported.
According to it, export of goods from Ukraine for the reporting period compared to the same period in 2019 decreased by 7.3%, to $ 26.630 billion, import by 14.7%, to $28.750 billion.
The State Statistics Service clarifies that in July compared to June 2020, the seasonally adjusted volume of exports rose by 3.6%, to $3.660 billion, imports by 2%, to $4.373 billion.
The seasonally adjusted foreign trade balance in July 2020 was also negative and amounted to $713.2 million, which is better than in the previous month ($751.2 million). The coefficient of coverage of import by export in January-July of this year amounted to 0.93 (in January-July 2019 some 0.85).
The State Statistics Service specified that foreign trade operations were carried out with partners from 221 countries of the world.
Top 20 countries Ukraine has posted the highest surplus of trade in goods in Jan-May of 2020 (thsd USD)
Retail goods turnover in Ukraine in March 2020 slowed to 6.1% year-over-year in comparable prices, the State Statistics Service has reported.
In January-March 2020 compared with January-March 2019, retail trade turnover decreased 10.6%, while in March 2020 compared to February 2020 it increased by 4.4%.
The largest increase in the retail turnover of enterprises (legal entities and private entrepreneurs) in March 2020 compared with March 2019 was recorded in Kyiv (by 15.3%), Dnipropetrovsk (by 15%), Kharkiv (by 14.9%), Zaporizhia (by 14.8%), Kirovohrad (by 13.9%), Poltava (by 12.8%), Volyn (by 12.6%) and Odesa (by 12.4%) regions.
