Exports from Ukraine might surpass pre-crisis indicators in Feb - Deputy PM Sviridenko

MOSCOW. Feb 27 (Interfax) - Exports from Ukraine in physical terms stood at 12 million tonnes in January 2024 and 8.5 million tonnes over the first 21 days of February owing to the sea shipping route's operations, and the country has chances to surpass the export indicators seen before the crisis, Ukrainian media quoted Deputy Prime Minister Yulia Sviridenko as saying at the Ukraine. Year 2024 forum on Sunday.

Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Kubrakov said that, after the sea shipping corridor declared unilaterally by Kiev started operations on August 8, 2023, Ukraine has exported nearly 27 million tonnes of freight via this route, 70% of it being Ukrainian agricultural produce.

As much as 30 million tonnes of cargo from Ukraine passed through the Danube cluster last year, he said.

The volume of cargo transportation by the national railway company Ukrzaliznytsia (UZ, or Ukraine Railways) is currently 15%-20% lower than before the crisis, but the government expects that it would reach the pre-crisis volume in a few months from now, he said.

Sviridenko said increasing exports by $10 billion is among Ukraine's top priorities for 2024.

According to the Ukrainian State Statistics Service, exports of goods from Ukraine in monetary terms in 2023 declined by 18% to $36.19 billion compared to 2022, while imports grew by 14.9% to $63.56 billion, thus increasing the deficit in trade in goods in 2023 by 150% to $27.38 billion.