REUTERS
Ukrainian beer exports grew by 50% in 2017 from 2016.
Ukraine was Europe's sixth largest supplier of beer in 2017, having supplied 11 million liters of beer, accounting for 3% of all beer shipments to the European Union.
The EU's top five beer suppliers were Mexico (221 million liters, or 52% of all import), Serbia (48 million liters, or 12%), the United States (39 million liters, or 10%), Belarus (23 million liters, or 6%), China (16 million liters, or 4%), the Ukragroconsult consultancy said with reference to EU statistics.
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Analysts from Pro-Consulting reported that Ukrainian beer exports grew by 50% in 2017 from 2016.
Lithuania was a major importer of Ukrainian beer among the EU's countries, accounting for 8.2% of all beer shipments. Lithuania has been among the top four consumers since 2014.
Half of all exports went to Russia, while Belarus and Moldova accounted for 20% each.
Last year, Ukraine almost did not export beer to Russia, while shipments to Belarus and Moldova declined by a combined volume of 8 million liters. However, Ukraine entered new sales market, in particular, it shipped 18 million liters of beer to Algeria, which was 17.7% of all exports in 2017.
For the first time since 2009, the beer market in Ukraine has stopped shrinking. It expanded by 0.1% in 2017, to 164.5 million decaliters.
At the same time, the Ukrpyvo beer producers' association reported that beer production in 2017 fell by 0.6%, to 178 million decaliters. In the first two months of 2018, Ukraine brewed 19.4 million decaliters of beer, which was 3.4% up on the same period of 2017.