KIEV: Exports of agricultural products from Ukraine to the European Union in January-May 2016 increased by 24% year-over-year (y-o-y) to USD 1.8 billion, while the total volume of agricultural products export was worth USD 5.7 billion, according to Deputy Agrarian Policy and Food Minister Vladyslava Rutytska.
“Exports of agricultural sector’s output account for 41.8% of total exports, making up USD 5.7 billion. Ukrainian exporters have already shipped to the EU agricultural products worth a total of USD 1.796 billion. Exports during the period under review rose by 23.9% compared with the previous year,” Rutytska wrote on Facebook.
The deputy minister noted that revenue from the export of Ukrainian agricultural products to the EU grew by 2.4% compared to the previous year, while foreign trade turnover was up by 4.3%. Asian countries accounted for 43.6% of total exports in January-May 2016, with exports revenue from shipments in this area amounting to USD 2.5 billion.
As UNIAN reported earlier, exports of Ukraine’s agricultural products in 2015 amounted to USD 14.6 billion, while imports renewed the country’s record at USD 11.1 billion. At this, 45% of exports went to Asian countries, 28.2% – to the EU, 13.6% – to Africa, and 10% – to the CIS countries. Grains were the core of the commodity structure of Ukrainian agricultural exports with 16% of total shipments abroad, while fats and oils comprised 9%, and oil crops – 4%.