Ukraine’s international trade in goods remained stable in January-June 2024 compared to the same period in 2023, as $19.5 billion worth of goods were exported in H1 this year, which is the same as last year’s figure, Ukrainian media quoted Ukrainian Deputy Economy Minister and Trade Representative Taras Kachka as saying on social media.
The ability of physical export volumes rose 35% to 71 million tonnes, he said. “There was a substantial correlation of prices for the main export goods over the past year, which explains the phenomenon when the volume of exports in weight is much higher, and the revenue remains stable,” Kachka said.
The increased throughput capacity of trade routes has an interesting effect on export rates month by month, Kachka said. After all-time highs were set in April and May, exports in June totaled $2.7 billion and 9.7 million tonnes, respectively, which is a sizeable drop compared to May, Kachka said, adding that this is 18.4% less in monetary terms and 20.2% less in volume.
The main reason for such a decline in exports is the completion of the export of crops last year. The corn was exported by 23.7% less in June, wheat by 40.8% less, and oil by 37.8%.
At the same time, ore with 239 million (1.5% down against May), poultry meat with 79 million (3.5% down against May), flat-rolled steel with 79 million (7% up), soybeans with 66 million (45% up) remained stable in the top 10 export goods.
Imports in June were also 5.6% lower at $4.8 billion, Kachka said.
At the same time, Ukraine imported $31.9 billion worth of goods in the first half of 2024, which is 4.9% more year-on-year.
A new marketing year (MY) for grains and oilseeds began on July 1, he said, and suggested summarizing the results of the 2023-2024 MY.
Ukraine exported 69.86 million tonnes of grains and oilseeds, as well as oils, Kachka said.
“Wheat exports totaled 18.43 million tonnes, 9% up as compared to the 2022-2023 MY. Corn exports stood at 29.41 million tonnes, 0.2% up from the previous marketing year. Barley was 8.5% down to 2.48 million tonnes. Soybeans was 8.2% down to 2.98 million tonnes year-on-year. Rapeseed was 8.7% up to 3.7 million tonnes. Sunflower oil was 22.8% up to 6.54 million tonnes. Soybean meal was 12.5% up to 0.662 million tonnes, and sunflower meal was up 29.1% to 5.15 million tonnes,” he said.
Kachka also drew attention to the “drastic drop in exports, which is pleasing.”
“Ukraine exported only 324,000 tonnes of sunflower in the previous marketing year, or 86.3% down year-on-year.
This means that we are getting back to the situation when sunflower is processed in Ukraine,” Kachka said.
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