Ukraine sees exports grow by 28% Q1 2017

At the same time, exports of goods increased by 34.4% (by $2.7 billion) amounting to $10.4 billion. The share of agriculture and the food industry was the largest in goods exports, namely 44%, while metallurgical products accounted for 23.4%, machine engineering for 10.4%, and mineral products for 9.2%.

According to the ministry, almost all branches of the Ukrainian economy showed growth in exports of goods, except for the wood and pulp industry (a 7% drop in exports) and the chemical industry (a 0.1% decrease). The decline in these sectors was due to a decrease in exports to Russia (by 26.1%, or by $18.4 million), Turkey (by 24.9%, or by $9.1 million) and China (by 61.4%, or by $8.2 million). Shipments of wood and pulp to 28 EU countries rose by $1.2 million in Q1 2017, or by 0.6%. At the same time, the EU share in the exports of timber and pulp from Ukraine is 60%.

The goods exports grew due to ores and iron concentrates (an increase in exports by $331.9 million), sunflower oil (by $315.7 million), soybeans (by $225.9 million), hot- and flat-rolled products (by $190 million), corn (by $140.4 million), semi-finished products of steel (by $125.2 million), sugar (by $116.3 million), wheat (by $110.6 million), ferroalloys (by 100.7 million dollars), and barley (by 65.8 million).

Read alsoUkrainian exports of cereals exceed 38 mln tonnesIn the regional context, almost all regions demonstrated an increase in goods exports. Noteworthy, the city of Kyiv, as well as Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk, Zaporizhia, Poltava, Mykolayiv, Kyiv, Vinnytsia and Lviv regions reported the highest export growth in Q1 2017, accounting for 85% of the increase in exports of goods.

The European Union remained the key trading partner of Ukraine, accounting for 38.4% of goods exports in Q1 2017, while Russia's share was 9%.

The shipments of goods to the EU countries rose by $782.3 million (by 24.5%) over the period under review, which was the largest increase in exports of goods in value terms among all Ukraine's trade partners.

In addition to the EU, the following countries saw a significant increase in shipments of goods from Ukraine in Q1 2017 in monetary terms: India (by $353.8 million), Russia (by $284.6 million), Turkey (by $177.7 million), Iran (by $146.2 million), Egypt (by $136 million), the United States (by $125.4 million), and Israel (by $106.1 million).

Read alsoRetail trade in Ukraine climbs 5.8% in four monthsAt the same time, exports of services rose by 7%, or $156.3 million, amounting to $2.4 billion. The largest share belonged to transport services (55.4%), computer and information services (16.3%), services for the processing of materials (13.9%) and business services (7.7%). The growth in exports of services was due to an increase in the provision of services for the processing of material resources (by 36.4%, or $89.3 million), tourism services (by 8.8%, or $4.2 million), transportation services (by 8.7%, or by $107.1 million), repair and maintenance services (by 5.6%, or $2.7 million), and business services (by 1.8%, or by $3.3 million).

Mykolayiv, Lviv, Kharkiv, Zakarpattia regions, and the city of Kyiv posted the largest growth in exports of services in the first quarter of 2017, accounting for 60.1% of the increase in total exports of services.

As UNIAN reported, Ukraine posted a foreign trade surplus of $106.2 million in January-March 2017 against a deficit of $142.5 million y-o-y, according to the State Statistics Service of Ukraine.

Imports of goods and services to Ukraine, excluding processing of customer-supplied raw materials, amounted to $12.339 billion, while exports of goods and services from Ukraine were estimated at $12.445 billion.

In late March, the ministry also presented a draft export strategy of Ukraine developed for five years. It features 56 priority tasks. Over 40 state agencies and non-governmental organizations took part in the development of the document.