Ukraine boosts revenue from agriexports by quarter in 10 months

"In the first 10 months of this year, the exports of Ukrainian agrarian and food products reached $14.7 billion, which was 22.7%, or $2.7 billion, up compared with the corresponding period in 2016," the report said.

Read alsoUkraine already exported 15 mln tonnes of grainsThe major buyers of Ukrainian farm produce over the period under review were India (11.3% of total exports), Egypt (7.5%), and the Netherlands (6.9%). At the same time, Ukrainian agrarian export structure has not changed in regional terms. Asian countries bought over 42% of Ukrainian agricultural products, the share of the European Union is 31.9%, and that of African countries is 14.7%.

The major staples in January-October 2017 became sunflower, which exports were estimated at 4.9 million tonnes, and $3.65 billion in monetary terms, maize (15.57 million tonnes, $2.42 billion), wheat, as well as a mixture of wheat and rye (14.22 million tonnes, $2.25 billion), rapeseed (1.83 million tonnes, $750.2 million), soybeans (1.92 million, worth 722.1 million) and barley (4.62 million tonnes, $672 million).

In January-October 2017, Ukraine significantly increased the export of stone fruit, namely apricot, cherries, peaches, and plums (by $8.6 million), wheat flour (by $17.7 million), sugar (by $121.4 million), poultry meat and offal (by almost $83 million), butter (by $69.1 million), frozen beef (by $36.1 million), bakery and confectionery (by $23.8 million), and products from flour and cereals (by $52.6 million).

Read alsoUkraine's chicken eggs exports may increase by 1.5 times in 2017 – expertsUkraine also boosted agricultural imports by 8% over the 10 months of 2017 y-o-y, to $3.6 billion, the press service added.

As UNIAN reported earlier, the ministry predicts Ukraine's farm produce exports could grow by 15-20% in 2017 against 2016.

Exports of Ukrainian farm produce rose by 4.5% in 2016 from 2015, to $15.5 billion, the ministry said. Grain crops, vegetable oil, oilseeds, soybeans, sugar, and meat were traditional export-oriented staples. Among key markets were the Asian countries (45.9% of exports, worth $7 billion), the European Union (27.5% of exports, $4.2 billion), Africa (15.7% of exports, $2.4 billion), the CIS countries (7.7% of exports, $1.2 billion), and the United States (0.9% of exports, $45 million).