REUTERS
The Middle East, the European Union, and the CIS accounted for the bulk of Ukrainian meat exports.
Ukraine in 2020 updated its absolute record for poultry meat exports, having supplied 431,000 tonnes abroad, however, revenue from the sales decreased to US$555 million against US$579 million in 2019.
"A common trend in 2020 was the strengthening of the position of Ukrainian meat products on the foreign market due to chicken meat," the press service of the National Scientific Center "Institute of Agrarian Economy" quoted its deputy director Mykola Pugachov as saying on February 18.
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"Last year, the estimate of meat product exports declined by 8% from 2019, to US$652 million. This was caused by lower prices of Ukrainian chicken meat abroad and a general decrease in beef exports," the report said.
In addition, in 2020, Ukrainian exporters twice faced bans on supplies of chicken meat to the European Union member states and a number of other countries, so the sales potential was not fully used.
Major buyers of Ukrainian poultry
The Middle East, the European Union, and the CIS accounted for the bulk of Ukrainian meat exports. The EU countries' share was 20% in monetary terms.
Saudi Arabia was a major buyer of Ukrainian poultry last year, with a 20.9% share of total exports.
"This Middle Eastern country buys only poultry meat in Ukraine. It made its first purchases in 2015, that is 28 tonnes worth US$34,000. In 2020, shipments of Ukrainian poultry meat to Saudi Arabia reached 83,000 tonnes worth US$136 million," the report said.
The shares of the Netherlands (13.9%), the United Arab Emirates (8.3%), Belarus (6.1%), Azerbaijan (5.2%), and Kazakhstan (4.1%) were also significant.
In general, Ukraine's exports to the said countries accounted for 59% of all meat supplies on the global market.