Ukraine can afford to boost agri-exports – trade envoy

Ukraine's Deputy Minister of Economic Development, Trade and Agriculture, Trade Envoy Taras Kachka has said Ukraine can afford to boost exports of agricultural products amid the quarantine, which was introduced over the spread of the novel COVID-19 coronavirus, to ensure food security in other countries.

"Against the backdrop of panic over food, spun on TV, the question arises – can we afford it [boosting agri-exports? (Yes, we can). The ministry is constantly assessing food balances. The examination has been carried out more thoroughly and meticulously over the recent few weeks. Therefore, we are positive we can pursue with uninterrupted exports. In addition to current exports, we could supply almost all key agricultural product groups," he wrote on Facebook on April 14.

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Kachka says the Ukrainian embassies will be conducting dialogues on such supplies with the governments of other states.

At the same time, he noted that the export expansion would be possible due to private businesses rather than the government's assistance.

"There are just two operators able to make such supplies, namely the SFGCU [the State Food and Grain Corporation of Ukraine] and [PJSC] Agrarian Fund. We all know their capacities and restrictive regulations. Therefore, we cannot talk about creating a single government operator… On the contrary, we are focusing on capacities of our private producers, both existing major exporters and new players," he summed up.

As UNIAN reported, the government earlier said it had no plans to impose limits on exports of grain, sunflower oil, poultry, and other staples during the coronavirus quarantine, which will last at least until April 24.

UNIAN memo. Ukraine in 2019 updated its historical record of agri-exports, having supplied agricultural products worth US$22.4 billion, which was almost 20% up from 2018.

In total, Ukraine's agri-food imports in 2019 stood at US$6.1 billion, which was 11% up year-on-year.