Ukraine among top three suppliers of agricultural products to EU

As of October 2023, Ukraine reduced its supplies of agricultural products to the European Union almost to the level of pre-war 2021, although it remained among the top three suppliers of such products to the EU, and at the same time significantly increasing consumption of European agricultural exports.

This is said in the latest monthly report on EU agricultural trade as of October 2023, which was published by the European Commission on January 19, Ukrinform reports.

 “After high agri-food import values from Ukraine in the second half of 2022 and the beginning of  2023, monthly imports in September and October 2023 were almost back at their 2021 level and nearly half lower than at this period in 2022 (-45%). Cumulative imports from January to October are now 1% higher (+EUR 100 million) compared to this period in 2022,” the report says.

However, different evolutions can be observed across products, with large increases in cereals imports (+EUR 1.2 billion, +39%), sugar (+EUR 254 million, +652%) and poultry (+EUR 148 million, +50%), while imports decreased in oilseeds and protein crops (-EUR 762 million, -29%) and vegetable oils (-EUR 688 million, -29%).

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In terms of agricultural imports to the EU in the period from January to October 2023, Ukraine remains in the third position, with a total of 12.843 billion euros (+371 million euros, or +3% compared to the same period in 2022), behind Brazil and the United Kingdom.

At the same time, in terms of consumption of European agricultural exports, Ukraine is among the top three countries in terms of changes compared to 2022, alongside the UK and Turkey, with an absolute increase in the supply of European products by +19 percent (+447 million euros).

Ukraine ranks 14th in the overall list for consumption of European agricultural products, with a total of EUR 2.825 billion, reaching the highest level of European agricultural product consumption in the past four years.

According to published data, the total volume of agricultural exports from the EU countries in the period from January to October 2023 amounted to 190.8 billion euros, while agricultural imports to the EU from third countries were recorded at 132.8 billion euros.

Photo: AA