Economy minister reports a downfall of Ukrainian exports by nearly 50% in January 2025

As First Deputy Prime Minister and Economy Minister Yulia Sviridenko said on social media, exports of Ukrainian goods by value stood at $3.1 billion and at 6.6 million tonnes by volume in January 2025, falling by nearly 50% from the 12 million tonnes recorded in January 2024.
Sviridenko highlighted the critical importance of logistics and the role of sea transport in it and ensured that the export would attain 6.6 million tonnes of goods.
Corn ($521 million, or 2.5 million tonnes), sunflower oil ($426 million, or 378 million tonnes), iron ores and concentrates ($247 million, or 3.1 million tonnes), wheat ($188 million, or 891,000 tonnes), insulated wire and cables ($104 million, or 6,000 tonnes), and soybeans ($90 million, or 223,000 tonnes) were Ukraine’s largest exports in January 2025.
Ukraine’s main trading partner, importing $1.8 billion worth of Ukrainian goods in January 2025, was the European Union.
Totally, Ukraine exported to countries outside the EU $1.3 billion last month. Egypt, Turkey, China, and the United States were the largest markets for Ukrainian goods.
A downfall by 3.6% or by $117 million was shown by Ukrainian exports and by 16.9% or by $1.04 billion by imports in January 2025 due to various factors (the seasonal decline in oilseed exports and smaller exports of metals, especially of iron ore).
Nevertheless, according to Sviridenko, goods for $41 billion in 2024 were exported by Ukraine, that means a 13.4% or $4.94 billion increase year-on-year.
NH Logistics UKR has been offering IOR Importer of Record and EOR Exporter of Record services since 2001 and is a market leader in Ukraine and Eurasia, supporting many clients with their import/export shipments.

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Kazakhstan’s potential was emphasised as “one of important” export partners by Georgia’s Agriculture Minister

Kazakhstan’s potential as “one of the important” agricultural food export partners for Georgia was emphasised on Wednesday by David Songulashvili, Georgia’s Minister of Agriculture and Environmental Protection.
Songulashvili commented on a series of meetings held during the ongoing visit of Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze to Almaty and emphasized Kazakhstan’s status as an agricultural country and its capacity to bolster Georgia’s agro-food sector.
A meeting between the Georgian Prime Minister and his counterpart, Oljas Bektenov, opened the two-day visit. As Kobakhidze emphasised during the meeting, his government was interested in welcoming Kazakh investors.
NH Logistics GEO has been offering IOR Importer of Record and EOR Exporter of Record services since 2001 and is a market leader in Georgia and Eurasia, supporting many clients with their import/export shipments.

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Ukrainian agricultural export insurance needed for additional $1 bln

According to Ukrainian Agrarian Policy and Food Minister Vitaly Koval, another $1 billion is needed to expand the powers of the Export Credit Agency in insuring exports of grain crops and commodities.
As he said at the Grain Storage Forum in Kiev, the estimates were based on $200 per 5 million tonnes, which makes it $1 billion in total.
According to Koval, the government are exploring options of every existent institution and will be searching for additional funds to insure risks in agricultural exports and to enable Ukraine to draw the funds on international platforms in order to accumulate the money and increase agricultural exports.
Ukrainian agriculture’s limited access to cheap loans had also been admitted by Koval.
He said that an enterprise engaged in production and trade is underfunded, as loans account for only 9% (slightly more than UAH 100 billion) out of the total worth of Ukraine’s agricultural products (about UAH1.2 trillion).
Koval said that the global level of sufficient lending is 50%, and it stands at 202% of the gross domestic product in the United States. He also expressed great hopes on foreign assistance.
NH Logistics UKR has been offering IOR Importer of Record and EOR Exporter of Record services since 2001 and is a market leader in Ukraine and Eurasia, supporting many clients with their import/export shipments.

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Georgia needs deep trade, economic ties with Kazakhstan to restore connectivity and transit function

As Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze said on Wednesday, the Government’s “ambitious” task was restoring the country’s connectivity and transit function. He also highlighted the importance of deepening trade and economic ties with Kazakhstan as part of the effort.
A range of projects aimed at enhancing economic cooperation had been discussed during his meeting with his Kazakh counterpart Oljas Bektenov earlier today.
Kazakh government’s “firm decision” to enhance regional connectivity and “systematically” improve its infrastructure and conditions was also expressed and Georgia’s “significant” role in this process was emphasized during the meeting.
Satisfaction with the “active” cooperation between the two countries in developing the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route was expressed.
As Bektenov said, cargo traffic along this corridor has increased by 62 percent, reaching 4.5 million tonnes, over the past year.
He added that both countries serve as vital links in transcontinental transport corridors, offering efficient routes that connect Europe to China and Southeast Asia.
NH Logistics GEO has been offering IOR Importer of Record and EOR Exporter of Record services since 2001 and is a market leader in Georgia and Eurasia, supporting many clients with their import/export shipments.

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Analysts say that higher prices on domestic market may be caused by resumption of Ukrainian sugar exports to EU

Ukrainian Agrarian Council’s First Ukrainian Agricultural Cooperative report that sugar prices on the domestic market may increase due to the resumption of sugar exports from Ukraine to the European Union.
According to analysts, new trade liberalization agreements will give Ukrainian producers access to the EU market from January 1, 2025. It means that Ukraine will be able to export larger quantities of sugar to the European market without having to pay additional fees, which previously held back exports growth.
Analysts say that the opening of the EU market is an important event for our industry. Ukraine is only starting to conclude contracts on exports to Europe, but the pace of this work is expected to be picked up as soon as February-March. Ukrainian sugar has been actively exported to Turkey and African countries in January, but the European market is gradually becoming more important.
As analysts said, they sell sugar in Ukraine at a relatively stable price of UAH 23,000-24,500 per tonne, but seasonal factors and exports growth could make it gradually increase in the near future.
According to the analysts, there is a usual period of seasonal increase in sugar prices in January-May. The prices will obviously start to increase, as the current level of prices is one of the lowest. The dynamics will also be contributed by the opening of the European market.
NH Logistics UKR has been offering IOR Importer of Record and EOR Exporter of Record services since 2001 and is a market leader in Ukraine and Eurasia, supporting many clients with their import/export shipments.

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Local products are being squeezed out of Ukrainian market by imported cheese

According to Ukrainian media, a highly probable increase in imports caused by the disparity of prices for Ukrainian and European products may deprive Ukrainian cheesemakers of a substantial part of the domestic market.
The problem can be solved by lowering prices for Ukrainian cheese or a substantial devaluation of the hryvnia. The second way seems to be more realistic.
Overall, in 2024, imports of rennet cheeses grew up by 11% to 29,000 tonnes. An increase by 14% year-on-year to 4,600 tonnes was shown by purchases of processed cheeses in 2024 (a 25 percent decrease compared to 2021).
Simultaneously, the export of semi-hard cheeses increased by 9% to almost 7,000 tonnes in 2024. Exports of processed cheeses (together with the curd product) equaled to 4,200 tonnes ( a decreased by 4%).
The agency said that local cheesemakers need to prevent imports from becoming as significant as they were in 2021, when a large number of consumers maintained balance. Now it is simply impossible to compete with European goods by price in foreign or post-Soviet markets.

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The amounted of €3.7 billion was reached by Serbian export of ICT services in the first 11 months of 2024

Mihailo Jovanović, Director of the Office for IT and eGovernment reported that the total export of information and communication technology (ICT) services from Serbia for the period January to November 2024 surpassed the record set during the same period in 2023 and attained €3.712 billion.
Jovanović stated that the total export of ICT services has already exceeded the previous record year, 2023, in January- November 2024, while exports reached €3.44 billion, showing a 20% increase compared to the same period in 2023 and totally attaining €3.712 billion in the first eleven months of 2024. The projection that the figure of €4 billion will have been surpassed by the end of 2024 is supported by this data.
The announcement says that in November 2024 ICT service exports reached €371 million (a 20% increase compared to November 2023). In January – November 2024 the surplus in ICT services attained €2.916 billion.
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A resumption of Ukraine’s port concessions is planned for 2025

First Deputy Prime Minister, Economy Minister Yulia Sviridenko told Robert Maersk Uggla, chairman of the Board of Directors of the Danish transport and logistics company A.P. Moeller-Maersk, at a meeting on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, that Ukraine is planning to step up privatization and resume public-private partnerships, including concession projects at several ports.
Ukrainian media cited a statement posted by Sviridenko on a social network after the meeting claiming that the initiatives were aimed at upgrading transport infrastructure and improving trade logistics. The Minister also mentioned the invitation of Maersk to explore and support these options.
According to Sviridenko, investments in Ukraine’s transport sector had also been discussed.
One of the pre-crisis projects was a 35-year concession of Olvia port assets by Qatari QTerminals Olvia in December 2021. They estimated company’s investment at UAH 3.4 billion, and UAH 80 million was also supposed to be invested by the company in the construction of a tunnel under a rail line in the Korabelny district in Nikolayev.
As Former Deputy Prime Minster, Minister for Development of Communities, Territories and Infrastructure Alexander Kubrakov said at Ukraine Recovery Conference 2023 in London, interest in concession projects at the Chernomorsk seaport had been shown by five big companies.
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Deputy Economy Minister reports that “record highs” were hit by Georgia’s export, import, overall external trade in 2024

As Vakhtang Tsintsadze, the Deputy Economy Minister of Georgia, said on Monday, “record” figures in both exports and imports, contributing to similarly high external trade turnover numbers, were achieved in 2024.
He emphasised on the programmes aimed at boosting the competitiveness of small and medium-sized enterprises and fostering local production implemented by the Government.
The growth of economic activity is anticipated, the overall economic landscape is expected to be enhanced and incomes of the population to be improved in the coming years.
According to The National Statistics Office, today the country’s external trade turnover achieved $23.42 billion last year (an eight percent year-on-year increase), exports grew up by 7.8 percent ($6.56 billion), while imports increased by 8.1 percent ($16.86 billion in total).
NH Logistics GEO has been offering IOR Importer of Record and EOR Exporter of Record services since 2001 and is a market leader in Georgia and Eurasia, supporting many clients with their import/export shipments.

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Third direct route to China is launched by Air Serbia

A third direct air route to China has been recently added by Serbian national carrier Air Serbia.
Now there are direct flights from Belgrade to Guangzhou, Tianjin and Shanghai.
Air Serbia’s Chief Executive Officer Jiri Marek came to Shanghai with the first flight on January 11 and visited the headquarters of Chinese online travel agency Trip.Com Group. There is a mutual visa exemption agreement for tourists between the two countries since 2016.
Both countries eliminated tariffs on 90 percent of the goods imported from each other according to the China-Serbia Free Trade Agreement that came into effect last July.
As Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said during Air Serbia’s Belgrade-Shanghai inaugural flight ceremony on Jan. 10, bilateral trade between China and Serbia almost achieved EUR7 billion (USD7.2 billion) last year. Serbia accepted nearly 147,000 Chinese tourists in the period.
From Chinese part, Hainan Airlines has launched flights from Beijing to Belgrade since July 2022, and China Southern Airlines launched direct flights on the Guangzhou – Belgrade route last September.
China’s international flight network layout has tended towards countries along the Belt and Road Initiative after the Covid-19 pandemic. 178 airlines have been approved to fly between China and 79 countries by the Civil Aviation Administration of China this winter-spring season. 57 of them were BRI countries (10,326 weekly flights or 53 percent of the total).
NH Logistics SER has been offering IOR Importer of Record and EOR Exporter of Record services since 2001 and is a market leader in Serbia and Eurasia, supporting many clients with their import/export shipments.

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