Ukraine changed its key partners in agricultural products trade with the EU in January-August this year – Hungary and two other countries entered the list, while France dropped from this list. This is reported by the Institute of Agrarian Economics.
"Poland, Romania, the Netherlands, Spain, Italy, Germany, Bulgaria and Hungary are the main trading partners in the segment of agricultural products for Ukraine among the states of this regional association. The aggregate turnover of Ukraine with these states is almost 83%," the Institute reported. .
However, the potential in this area in relation to the rest of the countries of the block for our country is still not exhausted, stressed the deputy director of the Institute of Agrarian Economics, Academician of the National Academy of Sciences Mykola Pugachev.
A characteristic feature of 2022, he emphasized, was noticeable changes in the list of key European partners. "Three countries were added to it: Romania, Bulgaria and Hungary, but France left. This is explained by a change in our priorities and the relative security of logistics in the conditions of the Russian invasion and the blockade of Ukrainian seaports," he explained.
In January-August 2022, the turnover of trade in agricultural goods between Ukraine and the EU increased by 35% compared to last year's figures for the corresponding period and reached $9.2 billion. USA, informed Pugachev.
At the same time, he noted, there was an increase in the positive balance for our country to the level of 4.9 billion dollars. USA, as the increase in domestic exports (+2.8 billion US dollars) overlapped with the decrease in the cost of purchases from representatives of EU member states (-0.4 billion US dollars).
In the first half of this year, domestic exporters have already fully used duty-free export quotas for the supply of honey, apple and grape juices, as well as canned tomatoes to the EU. And from June 4, 2022, the European Union removed all duties and fees on any products coming from Ukraine for a period of one year, significantly facilitating access to its market.
This year, the indicators of Ukraine's foreign trade in agricultural products due to the war generally lag behind the level of 2021, the Institute notes. "However, domestic agricultural companies are slowly adapting to these difficult conditions, using the available opportunities and resources to ensure the success of export-import operations, primarily provided to us in the European vector of activity. At the same time, it is important to achieve at least relative stability of quantitative and value indicators of trade, which will help to form priority guidelines activities for the near future, in particular, from the beginning of 2023," concluded Mykola Pugachev.
The Verkhovna Rada asks the EU to continue temporary trade liberalization measures.