Main indicators of international trade of Ukraine
EXPORT
Foreign trade plays an important role in the Ukrainian economy. The trend for 2012-2016 was a reduction in exports of goods with a simultaneous reduction in exports of agri-food products. In spite of the general negative trend, in 2017 there was an increase in exports, including agricultural products. In 2017, total exports amounted to 43.3 bln USD, which is 19% more than in 2016. As of the first half of 2018, total exports from Ukraine amounted to 23.3 bln USD, which is 3% less than in the same period last year.
The dynamics of agri-food exports showed a similar trend as the rest of the export commodities, but the pace of reduction in agricultural exports was lower than the overall, and despite the recession after the crisis of 2012/13, the growth was already observed in 2016. Historically, the record volume of agri-food exports was observed in 2012, it amounted to about 17.9 bln USD. The record figure was almost reached in 2017 - exports totaled 17.8 bln USD.
Dynamics of Ukraine`s export
Source: State Statistics Service of Ukraine
Over the past 5 years, the share of agricultural products in the structure of Ukraine's exports has increased from 27% in 2013 to 41% in 2017. According to the results of the first half of 2018, the share of agri-food products amounted to 36.5%. However, it should be noted that the basis of agricultural exports is still the export of raw materials, namely, products of plant origin - wheat, corn, barley and soybeans. The share of this product in the structure is about 55%.
Top-10 agri-food exports, 2018, mln USD
Source: State Statistics Service of Ukraine
Sunflower oil occupies a leading position in agri-food export. Its volume for January-June 2018 amounted to 2.2 bln USD. Ukraine is a global leader in the production and export of sunflower oil for several years. Other key positions are grain crops (corn, wheat, barley), as well as oilseeds (soybeans) and oilseed oil products (sunflower oil). These TOP-10 products account for 82% of all exports of agri-food products from Ukraine.
Top-10 countries-consumers of Ukrainian agri-food exports, 2018, mln USD
Source: State Statistics Service of Ukraine
The main market for Ukrainian agricultural products remains Asia, which reduced its share in the structure of Ukrainian exports in 2017 to 45%, from 48% in 2016. The main partner countries of Asia in 2017 were India, Turkey and China. In the second place - the EU countries, with a share of 32%, where the main partners are the Netherlands, Spain and Italy. The third one biggest trade partner are African countries, which in turn occupy 14%. The main partners from Africa are Egypt, Tunisia and Morocco.
IMPORT
Dynamics of Ukraine`s import
Source: State Statistics Service of Ukraine
Imports after the crisis of 2012/13 also showed a downturn. However, since 2016 there is an increase in import purchases by Ukraine, both in products and in agricultural products. In 2017, the import of agricultural products increased by 10.5% compared with 2016 and reached 4.3 bln USD. In the first 6 months of 2018, total imports amounted to 25.7 bln USD, which is 4% less than in the same period last year. At that time, imports of agri-food products during this period increased by 20% and amounted to 2.4 bln USD.
Top-10 agro-food imports, 2018, mln. US
Source: State Statistics Service of Ukraine
Among the agri-food imports of Ukraine, sunflower seed takes the first position - in January-June 2018 the volume of purchases amounted to 213.3 mln USD. In the second place is frozen fish (159.9 mln USD), and in the third place - corn (108.6 mln USD). Top 10 agricultural imports of Ukraine also include palm oil, import volume for the first half of 2018 amounted to 75.4 mln USD. The share of top-10 agri-food imports of Ukraine is 47%.
Top-10 countries-suppliers agri-food products to Ukraine, 2018, mln. USD
Source: State Statistics Service of Ukraine
In recent years, Ukraine has been increasing imports from Poland, which is the first in the structure of agricultural food imports of Ukraine. In the first half of 2018, imports from that country amounted to 214.1 mln USD. The second place takes Germany - 208.9 mln USD, and the third place takes Turkey - 194 mln USD. Totally, the top 10 countries-suppliers of agri-food products to Ukraine account for 54% of all agri-food imports of Ukraine.