Exports of Ukrainian agricultural products to the EU countries grew by 34.3% in January-July 2019 year-over-year, to $4.1 billion, former acting Minister of Agricultural Policy and Food of Ukraine Olha Trofimtseva has said. “The export of Ukrainian agricultural products to the EU for the seven months of 2019 increased 34.3% (or $1.04 billion), to $4.1 billion compared to the same period in 2018,” she wrote on her Facebook page.
The main products in the export structure to the EU are cereals – $1.8 billion, vegetable oils – $921.9 million, oilseeds – $385.4 million, bagasse and other food waste – $345.5 million, poultry – $117.3 million, fruits, nuts and zest – $78.6 million.
The share of the Netherlands in the trade between Ukraine and the EU countries was 18%, Spain’s – 13.5%, Poland’s – 13.4%, Germany’s – 11.1%, and Italy’s – 10.6%.
Trofimtseva said that as of September 2, 2019, Ukraine had fully used the EU tariff import quotas for honey, sugar, barley groats and flour, processed starch, preserved tomatoes, grape and apple juices, corn and wheat. The quota was used for butter by 48%, and for processed milk products – by 33.3%.
Exports of grain crops in the 2017/2018 marketing year (July 2017 through June 2018) totaled 39.4 million tonnes and amounted to $6.4 billion, according to the State Fiscal Service of Ukraine. The largest buyers of Ukrainian grain in this period were Egypt ($ 724 million, with a share of 11.4%), China ($594 million, 9.3%), Spain ($459 million, 7.2%), Indonesia ($375 million, 5.9%) and the Netherlands ($348 million, 5.5%).
In particular, Ukraine exported 17.8 million tonnes of maize worth $2.86 billion (China’s share was 16.4%, Egypt accounted for 13.6%, and the Netherlands for 12.2%). Exports of wheat totaled 17.2 million tonnes worth $2.83 billion (Indonesia with 13.3%, Egypt with 11.8%, and Bangladesh with8.7%); while exports of barley stood at 4.3 million tonnes worth $0.64 billion (Saudi Arabia with 41.2%, China with 19.3%, and Libya with 6.6%).
As noted, 99% of all grain was shipped by sea (39 million tonnes). The ports of Chornomorsk (formerly Illichivsk) accounted for 22% of all grain shipments by sea, the port of Odesa accounted for 19%, Yuzhny for 19%, and Mykolaiv for 18%. At the same time, 306,000 tonnes (0.8%) was exported by rail and almost 80,000 tonnes (0.2%) by road.
Ukraine in the 2016/2017 marketing year exported 43.8 million tonnes of grain, the Ukrainian Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food earlier reported.
