7 Feb 2023 21:21

Ukraine cuts exports of agricultural products to Russia by 15 times in 2022 - association

MOSCOW. Feb 7 (Interfax) - Ukraine's exports of processed agricultural products to Russia in 2022 decreased 15.3-fold to $3 million from $46 million in 2021, while supplies of similar products to Belarus declined 7.5-fold to $69 million from $520 million.

Ukrainian exporters are no longer planning to supply food products to the Belarusian and Russian markets, due to the successful re-orientation to the European Union countries, among other things, the Ukrainian media reported, citing the website of the Ukrainian Agrarian Export Association (UAEA).

In particular, the exports of cacao paste to Russia was halted in 2022, although in 2021, Russia was its largest buyer.

Ukraine also halted supplies of ice cream to Russia last year, despite the latter ranking third in Ukraine's exports of the product in 2021 after Moldova and Israel. In 2022, Germany replaced Russia as a major sales market.

In 2022, exports of Ukrainian bakery and confectionery products to Belarus fell by 8.5 times to $2 million, while in 2021 it ranked third among importers in this segment with $17 million. Similarly, supplies of Ukrainian frozen beef dropped 43 times to $0.3 million in 2022 from $13 million in the previous year, and canned fruit and berry products decreased by 6.7 times to $1.5 million from $10 million.

According to the UAEA, in 2021, Belarus was the main importer of Ukrainian potatoes with a share of 80% in the exports at $3 million, but in 2022 it dropped to the second position, with its share declining to 23% and $1 million respectively (a 3-fold decrease), according to the association. The supplies of Ukrainian tomatoes, onions, cabbage and carrots also went down drastically or ceased. In 2021, Belarus was among Ukraine's top export markets for these goods. Last year Belarus was also "displaced" by Moldova, Georgia and Hungary as the leading importer of cooked unfrozen vegetables from Ukraine, yielding the top position it held in 2021.

"With exports of jams, jellies and marmalade virtually unchanged in 2022, their main importers were Poland, Moldova and the Czech Republic (in 2021 these were Poland, Belarus, Israel)," the association said in the statement.

According to the UAEA, Ukraine generally increased exports of frozen vegetables, while changing its geographical distribution compared to 2021: Belarus dropped out of the top three, replaced by Germany at the second position, Turkey took the third spot, with Poland maintaining its leadership in the segment as in 2020.