Ukrainian imports of agricultural products fell 22% in Jan-Aug, banana and citrus fruit imports down 16%

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Ukrainian imports of agricultural products fell 22% in Jan-Aug, banana and citrus fruit imports down 16%

MOSCOW. Oct 21 (Interfax) - Ukraine imported nuts and fruits for a total of $398 million in January-August 2022, down 16% year-on-year, the Institute of Agrarian Economics (IAE) of Ukraine's National Academy of Agrarian Sciences said in a statement on its website.

Supplies of this product group made up the largest share at 10% among other types of agricultural products, and citrus fruits, bananas, and other exotic fruits were predominantly imported.

According to the institute, Turkey has been Ukraine's main supplier of nuts and fruits for over ten years, accounting for 27.1% of imports in monetary terms, and Ukraine imported over 126,000 tonnes of these products in January-August. Ukrainian companies also purchased significant amounts of nuts and fruits from Ecuador at 15.3%, Egypt at 6.8%, Greece at 6%, and Colombia at 5.5%.

"The greatest demand among fruit and berry products in our country has traditionally been for citrus fruits and bananas, which made up almost three-fifths of the value of its imports in January-August 2022," Bogdan Dukhnitsky, a senior researcher with the IAE's economics department, was quoted as saying in the statement.

Agricultural products were imported into the country for a total of $3.97 billion in January-August, down 22% year-on-year, the statement said, referencing the customs service. Among the leading products by volume were fish and seafood, imported for a total of $362 million.

"The commodity structure of imports of food products has not changed substantially for several years. Growth in the cost of purchases has been recorded only in relation to vegetables and the leftovers of the processing industry this year," Dukhnitsky said.

The cost of vegetables increased more than 40% to $263 million.

Imports from countries of the European Union totaled $2.17 billion in January-August, 55% of purchases, imports from Asia totaled $754 million at 19%, and imports from Latin America totaled $256 million at 6%.