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The closure of the Russian market for Ukrainian goods led to the fact that Ukraine’s major businesses had already reoriented their sales to the West, and today in terms of money, they are much more dependent on the EU than on the Russian Federation, with steelmaking industry being a perfect example, according to the Novoe Vremya weekly.
Over the past year, Ukrainian exports to the EU as a whole grew by 3.7%. And in 2017, the increase will become even more noticeable: only for the first quarter, exports to the EU increased by 24.5% compared to the same period in 2016, NV reports.
Over the first four months of the year, the European Union accounts for 38% of all domestic exports, the journalists said.
Since the launch of the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area with the EU in 2014, the total volume of Ukrainian berries export to the EU countries has grown fivefold.
Read alsoUkraine initiates consultations on setting up FTA with UK – PM GroysmanSales of Ukrainian honey during this time increased by 2.3 times, snails – in 10 times, processed tomatoes – in 19 times. A supply of poultry meat in the euro market jumped 65.7 times.
Exports of confectionery and bakery products, cocoa paste, chocolate, pasta are still growing, albeit not at a fast pace. But the European Union has become the main market not only for small farmers.
The top five most popular products that Ukrainian producers sold to Europe in 2016 were products of the agro-industrial complex and the food industry ($4.1 billion), steel and rolled metal ($3 billion), engineering products ($ 2.1 billion), ore and mineral raw materials ($1.4 billion), wood and products from it ($0.9 billion).
According to Ukraine’s Trade Envoy Natalia Mykolska, the dramatic decline occurred with the outbreak of the war in Donbas when Ukraine lost a fifth of its industry. The decline in world prices for iron ore and grains, the main products traded by Ukraine in foreign markets, also hit the country’s exports.
Read alsoUkraine's trade with EU boosted by 1st full year of Association deal - EU Delegation to UkraineBut in the first quarter of 2017, the volume of sales to the EU returned to the level of the first three months of the pre-crisis 2013. If the trend prevails, the country will fully restore the volume of its pre-war supplies to Europe by the end of the year. And it will do this without Crimea and the most industrialized region – Donbas, the article says.
One of the reasons for success is the autonomous trade preferences that the European Union has granted to Ukraine.
The Association Agreement was the impetus for increasing the export of agricultural products not only to the EU, but also to India, Turkey, Iran, Egypt, Tunisia and Morocco. It turns out that entering the European markets helped diversify trade flows and expand the geography of exports, Mykolska said.