Ukraine-EU trade in farm produce grows to over US$6 bln

Trade in farm produce between Ukraine and the European Union in January-September 2018 grew by 5.4% year-over-year to US$6.07 billion.

"In January-September 2018, foreign trade in agricultural and food products between Ukraine and the EU countries amounted to US$6.07 billion and increased by 5.4% compared to the same period last year," the press service of Ukraine's Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food reported.

In particular, exports from Ukraine amounted to US$4.12 billion and imports to US$1.9 billion.

Read alsoShipments of farm produce account for over 37% of Ukrainian exports in nine months

Deputy Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food for European Integration Olga Trofimtseva says the positive bilateral trade dynamics have been observed for a third year in a row.

"The free trade zone works both for our producers and for European ones. For example, in the first nine months of 2016, Ukrainian agricultural and food exports to the EU markets amounted to almost $2.9 billion, but they already totaled $4.2 billion in the same period of 2017. Despite the slowdown in the growth of Ukrainian agricultural and food exports to the EU markets this year, we are confident that further lowering trade barriers between Ukraine and the EU will have a positive impact on both sides, and more and more Ukrainian exporters will go to EU markets with their products," the press service quoted Trofimtseva as saying.

Key groups of commodities whose exports increased markedly compared with 2017 were rapeseed, wheat, nuts and confectionery, poultry, rye, chocolate and its products, she said.

Simultaneously, Ukraine was actively buying tobacco, animal feed products, chocolate and cocoa beans, meat and by-products, oilseeds, alcoholic beverages and other products in the EU.

The Netherlands, Poland, Italy, Germany, and Spain remained the largest trading partners in the EU for three years in a row, Trofimtseva added.