Ukrainian exports remain at a stable level, while imports are increasing

Ukrainian exports for the first six months of this year amounted to $19.5 billion, identical to the figure from the first half of 2023. At the same time, the capacity for physical export volumes increased by 35%, totaling 71 million tons for the half-year period. Deputy Minister of Economy and Trade Representative of Ukraine, Taras Kachka, reported this on Facebook.

According to him, there has been significant correlation in prices for major export goods over the year, which explains why the export volume in weight is significantly higher while revenue remains stable.

Following record-breaking April and May, exports in June amounted to $2.7 billion and 9.7 million tons respectively.

"This is a significant decrease compared to May, -18.4% in money and -20.2% in volume. The main reason is the completion of last year's crop shipments," explained Kachka.

In June, the top exported goods maintained stability: ore $239 million (-1.5% from May), poultry meat $79 million (-3.5% from May), flat rolled products $79 million (+7%), soybeans $66 million (+45%).

Import in June was also lower by 5.6%, totaling $4.8 billion. Overall, Ukraine imported goods worth $31.9 billion in the first half of the year, which is 4.9% more than in the first half of last year.

For the 2023/2024 marketing year (ending June 30), exports of grains and oilseeds reached 69.86 million tons.

Specifically, wheat exports amounted to 18.43 million tons, which is 9% more than in the 2022/2023 MY. Corn exports totaled 29.41 million tons, slightly up by 0.2% compared to the previous marketing year.

Barley exports were 2.48 million tons, down by 8.5%, soybeans 2.98 million tons (-8.2%), rapeseed 3.7 million tons (+8.7%).

Sunflower oil exports reached 6.54 million tons, up by 22.8% compared to the previous MY. However, Ukraine exported only 324 thousand tons of sunflower seeds (-86.3%). According to Kachka, this is a positive outcome as Ukraine returns to a situation where sunflower seeds are processed domestically.