Photo from UNIAN
Ukraine exported grain worth US$ 6.44 billion in the 2016-2017 marketing year (MY, July 2016-June 2017), which was 5.6% up year-over-year (y-o-y), according to First Deputy Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine Maksym Martyniuk.
"Based on current indicators and the ratio of the current season to the previous one, we can estimate currency earnings from grain exports at $6.44 billion, which is 5.6% up on MY 2015-2016. By comparison, the average monthly growth of grain exports in physical terms is 11.3% (as compared to the same month of last MY). However, the unfavorable situation in external markets made the growth halve in monetary terms," Martyniuk wrote on Facebook.
He added that in MY 2016-2017, Ukrainian farmers exported 43.8 million tonnes of grain, which was a record high during Ukraine's independence.
The official also said that earnings from flour exports stood at $130.5 million in the ten months of MY 2016-2017 (July 2016-April 2017), which was 23% up y-o-y. Flour exports in physical terms in MY 2016-2017 totaled 369,400 tonnes, which was also a record high.
Read alsoOver 43 mln tonnes of Ukrainian grain exported since July 1, 2016Martyniuk noted that the index of raw material processing (the ratio of exports of flour products to grain exports) in MY 2016-2017 grew to 2.32% against 1.99% in MY 2015-2016.
"Ukraine's agriculture remains guarantor of not only food but also economic security of Ukraine, as the industry sees gradual development-oriented trends along with slow but steady reorientation from the raw material model to domestic processing and supply of value-added products," Martyniuk added.
As reported by UNIAN, the previous record of grain exports in Ukraine was registered in the 2015-2016 MY at the level of 39.4 million tonnes.
Ukraine harvested 65.95 million tonnes of grain and leguminous crops in 2016, which was 9.7% up from 2015. It was also a record for the whole period of the country's independence, according to the State Statistics Service.