Indian ambassador: Ukrainian exports to India may grow by 20% in 2018

Ambassador of India to Ukraine Manoj Kumar Bharti predicts exports of goods from Ukraine to India in 2018 could grow by 20%, to US$2.6 billion against 2017.

Read alsoEU countries, India, Egypt, China among biggest buyers of Ukrainian farm produce in 2017"Speaking about the forecast and taking into account the current trends, the growth of exports in 2018 from Ukraine to India will be approximately 20%," he said at a press conference on March 27.

According to him, Ukrainian exports to India in 2017 totaled $2.2 billion, which was 16% up from 2016.

India is Ukraine's largest buyer of sunflower oil, he said. "In 2017, Ukrainian sunflower oil exports to India stood at $2 billion," the official said.

He also noted that for the first time last year Ukraine exported legumes and blood components, namely platelet products, to India.

"In 2017, trade between India and Ukraine grew by 18.8%, to approximately $2.8 billion... This gives me the confidence to set a goal that there will be plus 20% in trade between India and Ukraine in 2018, and plus 25% in 2019," Bharti said.

As UNIAN reported earlier, Ukrainian exports to India in January 2018 stood at $187.9 million, while imports from India totaled $39.7 million, according to the State Statistics Service of Ukraine. The main staples of Ukrainian exports were sunflower oil, engineering and aircraft industry products, furniture, ferrous metals, etc. Ukraine imported mainly coffee, tea, pharmaceuticals, plastics, rubber, and other goods.