Without the restoration of sea exports, Ukraine will have to restructure its agricultural sector, — Vysotskyi

Currently, alternative routes cover only about half of the needs of agricultural exports.

This was stated by the Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food Taras Vysotskyi during the discussion platform “New Country”.

According to him, the current throughput capacity of alternative routes is about 45-50% of the needs of Ukrainian agricultural exports. For 28 days of October, this figure was at the level of 47%.

“We see confirmation that 50% is actually the maximum with the existing infrastructure,” Vysotskyi noted.

The Ukrainian agricultural sector has historically depended on sea exports. In 2021, 94% of agricultural products were shipped by sea. Even in June 2026, this figure was about 80%, and for grains, oilseeds and their processed products – about 90%.

After limiting the operation of deep-water ports, part of the cargo was reoriented to the Danube, railways and motor transport. However, these routes are more expensive and have limited throughput capacity.

For producers from eastern Ukraine, the delivery of products to European ports can exceed a thousand kilometers, which worsens the competitiveness of exports.

According to Vysotskyi, if maritime logistics does not recover for a long time, Ukraine will also have to change the structure of agricultural production. Part of production may shift closer to the western border, and other regions will have to switch to a different product and economic model.

The minister emphasized that such a restructuring will take years. The previous model was formed for about two decades and in 2021 allowed Ukraine to achieve record agricultural exports of about $28 billion.