Ukraine increases monthly exports to record 12 mln tonnes in Jan - Economy Ministry

MOSCOW. Feb 5 (Interfax) - Ukraine has seen the highest monthly amount of exports in physical terms, 12 million tonnes of products, in January 2024, including 8.7 million tonnes of goods exported by sea, since the start of the crisis, Ukrainian media reported citing the Economy Ministry on Monday.

Ukraine is close to reaching a pre-crisis amount of exports in physical terms, as its January 2024 exports reached 12 million tonnes, which is only 2 million tonnes less than in January 2022, Ukrainian media quoted First Deputy Prime Minister and Economy Minister Yulia Sviridenko as saying.

Earlier, Deputy Economy Minister and Ukraine's trade representative Taras Kachka told Ukrainian media that Ukraine's exports in December 2023 amounted to 10 million tonnes, a level it had had previously in March 2023, after which monthly exports declined to under $3 billion with the closure of the Black Sea Grain Corridor.

A first ship insured against war risks under the Unity program departed in January to be loaded at one of the Greater Odessa ports, Sviridenko said. The cost of said ship's insurance was 0.75% of its value, which is much cheaper than the rates applied while the Black Sea Grain Initiative was in effect, she said.

The normalization of the insurance market in international trade would be crucial in resuming exports of Ukrainian value-added goods, Sviridenko said. The goal now is not just to reach the pre-crisis level of exports in physical terms but also increase revenues, which unimpeded shipments of Ukrainian containers by sea should contribute to, she said.

"And this would be possibly only when the insurance market for sea shipments starts functioning again. This is why it's so important to us that insurance is becoming more available and is used practically in exporting Ukrainian products," Sviridenko said.

The Unity ship insurance program, which the Ukrainian government implements together with Marsh McLennan and a pool of insurance companies led by ASCOT, is designed to make the cost of insurance for sea transportation of grain and other important food products in Ukraine's territorial waters cheaper, which should help increase Ukrainian exports, among other things.

The total amount covered by the program is $50 million. Estimates show that the proposed insurance mechanism should make grain insurance cheaper by an average of 2.5 percentage points of the insurance rate, which should save grain traders about UAH 100-140 per tonne of cargo, and which should bring Ukrainian farmers an additional UAH 4 billion in general.

Ukraine expects to extend insurance instruments to other types of exports in the future, the Economy Ministry said.