Ukraine exports almost 100 mln tonnes of goods and products worth $44.1 bln in 2022 - trade representative Kachka

MOSCOW. Jan 10 (Interfax) - Ukraine last year exported, according to preliminary data, 99.8 million tonnes of products and goods of all kinds worth $44.1 billion, which is respectively 38.4% and 35% less than in 2021.

"This is the first year when export volume and logistics came to the fore," Ukrainian Deputy Economy Minister and Trade Representative Taras Kachka said on social media on Wednesday, January 4, according to Ukrainian media.

According to his data, the export of 24.99 million tonnes of corn last year brought Ukraine $5.94 billion (+1% to 2021), revenue from foreign shipments of 4.29 million tonnes of sunflower oil (-16, 3%) totaled $5.46 billion (-14.4%), from 23.9 million tonnes of iron ore (-45.9%) - $2.9 billion (-57.8%), from exports of 11.2 million tonnes of wheat (-44.1%) - $2.6 billion (-44.7%), and from exports of 3.12 million tonnes of rapeseed (+17%) - $1.54 billion (-8.6%).

"Sunflower seeds made their way into the top 10 for exports. We exported 2.7 million tonnes of them worth $1.26 billion, which is 33 times more than last year. This is the volume that the oil extraction plants failed to process. I hope that we will have a reverse flow in 2023, when seed exports will decrease and oil exports will increase proportionally," Kachka said in a statement.

According to his data, the export of one of the traditional leaders of industrial exports - 65,900 tonnes of insulated wires yielded Ukraine $1.32 billion last year, which is 16.4% less than in 2021. This reduction was caused by a 13.6% drop in wire exports.

"Next in the ranking are semi-finished steel products and hot-rolled steel. The decline in volume over the past year stands at 72%. Total exports of semi-finished steel is 1.9 million tonnes worth $1.1 billion, and that of hot-rolled steel 1.3 million tonnes worth $1 billion. But it is even more striking to compare January and December. In January, there were 404,000 tonnes, in December - 31,000 tonnes," the trade representative said.

Kachka noted that foreign sales of soybeans in 2022 were a rare case of substantial growth: physical volume of exports increased by 81.6% to 1.99 million tonnes compared to 2021, while the revenue rose by 43% to $862 million.

In turn, poultry exports decreased 10% compared to 2021 - to 413,000 tonnes, but it yielded 19% more in revenue - $852 million.

According to the trade representative, geographically 63% of exports fell on the European Union ($27.9 billion). Among the EU countries, last year Poland ($6.6 billion), Romania ($3.8 billion), Hungary ($2.27 billion), Germany ($2.23 billion), Italy and Spain ($1.5 billion each) received the most supplies.

Outside the EU, the largest export market was Turkey ($2.9 billion), which was ahead of China ($2.46 billion), although it is respectively 29% and 69% less than in 2021.

Additionally, imports to Ukraine in 2022 in physical terms have almost halved (-48.1%), and in monetary terms - 19.6%. In 2021, Ukraine imported 35 million tonnes of products worth $58 billion.

"Of the 99.8 million tonnes, 53.8 million tonnes were exported by sea. This is 55% less than last year. By rail, 33.7 million tonnes were exported. The 'iron' stability is +3.4% or +1.1 million tonnes compared to 2021. Twelve million tonnes were exported by vehicle, and this is a fantastic increase of 32.4% compared to 2021," the trade representative said.