Trade turnover between Ukraine and South Korea in the agricultural sector is only $200 million per year, — Ministry of Agriculture

Ukraine and the Republic of Korea discussed expanding cooperation in the agricultural sector and possible areas of cooperation.

Currently, the trade turnover between Ukraine and the Republic of Korea in the agricultural sector is only $200 million per year, said Minister of Agricultural Policy Vitalii Koval.

Ukraine supplies corn, wheat, sunflower oil. Therefore, there are prospects for expanding cooperation in the field of deep agroprocessing.

In particular, the fast food industry is developing rapidly in Ukraine. And the Republic of Korea has good experience and modern technologies in this area. If we join forces, we can jointly produce such products and export them to third countries, and this should be started now, Koval noted.

Also, one of the areas is the production of agricultural machinery. In particular, small-power tractors.

According to Koval, Ukraine’s strategy is a qualitative transition from an agrarian model of the economy to an agroindustrial one, the development of deep processing and an increase in the production of products with added value. Currently, a ton of Ukrainian agricultural products for export is valued at $309. For example, in Italy it is $2,970, and in Poland it is $1,560. Therefore, it is important for the agricultural sector to switch to deep processing in order to increase the cost of exports and be competitive in the world market. The Republic of Korea has good experience in the field of processing.

The Minister of Agricultural Policy also invited the Korean side to join the humanitarian initiative of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy Grain from Ukraine to help countries facing acute food shortages.

For their part, representatives of the Republic of Korea expressed their readiness to support Ukraine and expand cooperation in the agricultural sector.

Earlier, USM reported that South Korea is allocating $6 million to support Grain from Ukraine.