Last year Russia accounted for 11% of Ukraine’s sweets imports / Photo from UNIAN
Sales of Ukrainian sugar and confectionery products in Russia in H1 of 2015 decreased by more than four times compared to the same period of last year, amounting to 3.6% of total exports of these products, while last year Russia accounted for 11%, according to the Institute of Agrarian Economy.
According to the press service of the National Scientific Center "Institute of Agrarian Economics," referring to the director of the organization, Yuri Lupenko.
"Because of the constant unilateral bans, Russia has lost the position of main importer of Ukrainian products of this group. Exports to Russia worth $9.95 million in January-June of last year fell by more than four times – down to $2.4 million – in the six months of this year," reads the statement of the press service of the Institute, citing its director Yuriy Lupenko.
At the same time, according to the Institute, in H1 of 2015, the Ukrainian companies exported sugar and confectionery worth $92.3 million, which is 36% more than the same period of last year.
In this period, the main buyers of Ukrainian sugar and confectionery products were Kyrgyzstan, which took 19.5% of exports, Kazakhstan (12.8%), Romania (7.6%), Azerbaijan (6.6%), Turkmenistan (6.0 %), Belarus (4.8%) and Georgia (4.1%).
At the same time, Russia continues to import a significant amount of Ukraine’s cocoa and chocolate. In H1, its share was 18.2% of the country’s exports.
Read alsoOver 40% of Russians support embargoed food destruction, 38% againstThe total amount of cocoa and chocolate exports in this period amounted to $75.51 million against $156.03 million in H1 of 2014. The main importers of these products are also Kazakhstan (14.1%), Belarus (8.1%), Azerbaijan (7.9%), Georgia (7.0%) and Moldova (5.0%).
As UNIAN reported earlier, according to the State Statistics Service, domestic production of chocolate and food products containing cocoa decreased by 30.5% - to 77,800 tons in January-June 2015 compared to the same period of last year. 116,000 tons of sweet biscuits and waffles was produced during this period, which is 25.8% less than in the same period of 2014. Production of cocoa-free confectionery increased by 2.7% - to 91,700 tons in H1 of 2015.