Ukraine 1H18 agricultural exports nearly equal to last year

Ukraine’s exports of agricultural produce totaled USD
8.6 bln in 1H18 vs. USD 8.7 bln in 1H17, the Interfax-Ukraine news agency
reported on Aug. 21, citing a press release of the Agrarian Ministry. Agricultural
exports were led by Ukraine’s traditional products of grains (36.8% share),
vegetable oils (26.2%) and oilseeds (7.5%).

Meanwhile, the fastest-growing food groups included
eggs (more than doubling to USD 27.7 mln); apples, pears and quinces (advancing
5x to USD 6.7 mln); legumes (surging to USD 11 mln); and butter (rising 65% yoy
to USD 29.2 mln). Export markets remained mostly the same, with Asia’s share at
43.2%, the European Union at 30.4%, and Africa at 14.6%. The top five
destination countries were India, Egypt, China, the Netherlands, and Spain.

Agricultural trade turnover reached USD 11.3 bln in
1H18, increasing 3.5% yoy. The share of agricultural produce in external trade
turnover was 23%.

In 2017, the agricultural exports reached a record
high of USD 18.0 bln, the ministry noted. This year, the result is expected to
be lower, given the less favorable price situation on the external markets.

Evgeniya Akhtyrko: As we
reported earlier, unfavorable weather conditions resulted in lower winter crops
this year. This factor, coupled with a worse price situation,
is likely to result in lower export receipts from grain exports in 2018. This
loss might be partially compensated by boosted exports of vegetable oils and
oilseeds, as their expected yields look quite promising at the moment.

What is certainly positive is that Ukraine’s key
agricultural exports are restraining the growth of Ukraine’s trade deficit. The
fast growth in exports of non-traditional agricultural produce reported by the
ministry is also a positive development, which has resulted mostly from
Ukraine’s free trade agreement with the EU. However, the impact of these
products on Ukraine’ overall exports is low.