KIEV: Exports of Ukrainian agricultural products to Russia in 2015 fell by 68%, to $300 million, total goods turnover with Russia with agricultural products fell by 65% or over $1 billion, to $575 million, Agricultural Policy and Food Minister of Ukraine Oleksiy Pavlenko has said. “The share of exports to Russia fell from 6% in 2014 to 2% in 2015,” he said, speaking in the parliament on Friday.
Pavlenko said that the decline in exports of Ukrainian products to Russia was seen in almost all segments: exports of condensed milk, eggs, cereals, oilseeds (mainly soybeans and sunflower seeds), confectionary products made of sugar, finished and canned food made of fish and shell fish was completely halted. Supplies of butter and fats, bear and juices fell to the smallest amounts.
The minister said that imports of agricultural goods from Russia in 2015 plunged by 58%, to $204 million. He said that Ukraine managed to diversify the markets: the share of Asian countries reached almost 45%, EU – 28.2% and Africa – 13.6% of total agricultural exports, exceeding exports to the CIS countries.
“The intensification of markets thanks to expansion of exports geography allowed agricultural exports from Ukraine survive the loss of the Russian market,” Pavlenko said.
The minister said that more and more Ukrainian companies are trying to enter the European market: only in the past three weeks over 1,000 companies received a permit to export to the EU. Pavlenko said that in general, agricultural exports from Ukraine in 2015 reached $14.8 billion with goods turnover worth $18.5 billion, which allowed recording the best surplus in trade with agricutltural products of $11.1 billion for the country.
