Exports of agricultural products from Ukraine slightly decline in H1 to US$8.6 bln

Exports of agricultural products from Ukraine declined by 2% in the first half of 2018 (H1) year-over-year (y-o-y), to US$8.6 billion.

Agricultural exports in January-June of 2018 remained almost at the level of last year's corresponding period (-2%) and amounted to more than $8.6 billion, according to the press service of the National Scientific Center "Institute of Agrarian Economy," referring to its deputy director, PhD in economics Mykola Pugachov.

Read alsoUkrainian agricultural exports to EU grow to $2.3 bln – agriculture ministry

Exports of agricultural products over the period under review accounted for over 37% of Ukraine's total exports.

Grain crops, oilseeds, various fats and oils (mainly sunflower oil), as well as food and processing industry goods remained agri-export leaders. Their aggregate share is 88% of agri-exports.

In the first half of 2018, exports of certain types of foods in physical terms increased compared to the same period of last year, the report said.

In particular, supplies of chicken eggs to foreign markets soared by over 1.5 times from 31,000 tonnes to 48,000 tonnes y-o-y, those of beans (mainly peas) rose from 1,000 tonnes to 54,000 tonnes, exports of walnuts grew from 12,000 tonnes to 19,000 tonnes, and shipments of malt increased from 70,000 tonnes to 97,000 tonnes.

Noteworthy, exports of poultry meat in monetary terms in H1 2018 increased from $196 million to $241 million, and those of vegetable oil rose from $45 million to $74 million. This was primarily due to a rise in prices of these products, Pugachov said.

As UNIAN reported earlier, Ukrainian agrarians exported foodstuffs worth $17.8 billion in 2017, which accounted for over 41% of all Ukrainian exports.

According to Ukraine's Agrarian Policy and Food Ministry, the major staples of Ukrainian agri-exports are grain crops, accounting for 36.2% of the export structure, as well as vegetable oils (25.1%), and oilseeds (11.3%).