Exports from Ukraine via sea shipping corridor amounts to 8 mln tonnes in Feb - Restoration Ministry

MOSCOW. March 1 (Interfax) - A record amount of 8 million tonnes of cargo was exported in February via the Black Sea shipping corridor unilaterally declared by Kiev, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister and Restoration Minister Alexander Kubrakov said.

"Record 8 million tonnes has been exported via the Ukrainian corridor in February. The agroexport of the ports of Big Odessa during the shortest month of the year was 5.2 million tonnes," Ukrainian media quoted Kubrakov as saying on his social account.

He described this as a record amount of exports not only through the sea shipping corridor but also over the entire period of the crisis.

Exports via Ukraine's Black Sea ports are gradually approaching the figures seen before the crisis, he said.

Since Ukraine opened the sea shipping corridor, 42 countries have received almost 28 million tonnes of cargo, including 19 million tonnes of grain, he said.

"Today, more than 90% of all agricultural exports go through the ports of Big Odessa and the Danube ports," Kubrakov said.

First Deputy Prime Minister and Economy Minister Yulia Sviridenko said earlier that exports from Ukraine amounted to 12 million tonnes in January and 8.5 million tonnes over the first 21 days in February owing to the sea shipping corridor.