Ukraine's foreign trade drops 30% in Jan-Feb, China is main trade partner - customs

MOSCOW. March 16 (Interfax) - Ukraine's foreign trade amounted to $16.6 billion in January-February 2023, having dropped 30% year-on-year, according to the State Customs Service.

"Ukraine imported $10.1 billion worth of goods, while exports stood at $6.5 billion in January-February," the Ukrainian media said with the reference to the State Customs Service's press release.

Back in January, the customs reported $4.8 billion imports and $3.1 billion exports. Imports grew to $5.1 billion, exports reached $3.4 billion, the negative balance of trade in goods kept at $1.7 billion in February.

According to the State Customs Service, taxable imports in January-February amounted to $8.1 billion, or 80% of all goods imported.

The import tax amounted to $0.44 per kilogram, up 53% from the previous year. Most of all goods were imported from China - $1.7 billion, Poland - $1 billion, and Turkey - $760 million.

Over the first two months of the year, most goods were exported to Poland - $953 million, Romania - $609 million, and China - $605 million.

The press release mentioned the following main categories of imports: $2.9 billion worth of machinery, equipment and vehicles with UAH17.6 billion payments to the budget (27% of customs duties), $2.6 billion worth of fuel and energy products with UAH16.2 billion duties (25%), and $1.7 billion worth of chemical products with UAH11.5 billion duties (18%).

The top three categories of goods most exported from Ukraine included food products - $4.3 billion, metals and metal products - $568 million, machinery, equipment and vehicles - $521 million.

The budget was paid UAH223.3 million in the course of customs clearance of taxable exports.