Ukraine reduced sales of agricultural products by 7%

This year, Ukraine exported agricultural products worth $19,637 million, which is 7% less than in the same period of 2023.

“According to the State Customs Service, in January-November 2023, Ukraine exported agro-food products (groups 1-24 of Ukrainian classification of foreign economic goods) in the amount of $19,637 million, which is 7% less than in the corresponding period of 2022,” said the deputy director of the National Science Center “Institute of Agrarian Economics”Mykola Pugachev.

According to him, at the same time, agricultural products maintain a dominant position in the overall export of Ukraine. Now its share is 60%.

The expert emphasized that the current year presented many new challenges to Ukrainian exporters. In addition to the war and its negative consequences, there were also bans and restrictions on the import of certain types of products from Ukraine, which are still continued by Poland, Hungary and Slovakia. Since the beginning of November, the movement of trucks on the Polish-Ukrainian border has been blocked through the largest checkpoints, which has made it impossible to export and transit.

“After the termination of the “Grain Agreement” in July, our country ensures the functioning of the sea corridor with its own resources, the capacities of which are too small and do not meet real needs. The existing obstacles lead not only to a general decrease in income for Ukrainian industry exporters, but also actually make any measures of foreign economic activity ineffective and poorly forecasted,” said Mykola Pugachev.

According to forecasts of the Institute of Agrarian Economics, in 2023 Ukrainian agri-food exports are expected to be at the level of last year’s indicators.