Following the results of 2016, Ukraine imported agricultural products at $4.2 billion, which is 4.5% higher than a year earlier.
It was reported by the press service of the Institute of Agrarian Economics (IAE).
According to Deputy Director of the IAE Nikolai Pugachev, the growth in value of agricultural products imports in Ukraine was recorded in all regions except CIS countries.
“If in the previous years the leading position of agricultural products suppliers in our country belonged mostly to the countries from the three regions – Europe, Asia and the CIS, then, starting from 2016, imports structure of agricultural products in Ukraine has changed”, – he says.
Thus, the greatest shipments in terms of value were from the EU – 1.941 billion dollars. Share of the European countries accounted for about half of the domestic agro-food imports or 46.3% and, on the other hand, $928 million or 22.2% of the Ukrainian exports of agricultural products accounted for Asian countries.
Shipments from other regions were much smaller – imports from Latin America amounted to $399 million (9.5%); Africa – $204 million (4.9%). At the same time the value of shipments from the CIS countries decreased by 21.4% if compared to 2015 – down to $166 million (4.0%). The volume of imports from the US amounted to $ 168 million.
It is noted that imports of agro-food products to Ukraine in 2016 were mainly from Germany and Poland ($378 million each), as well as from Turkey ($ 334 million), France ($176 million), USA ($168 million), Indonesia ($161 million), Italy ($156 million) and the Netherlands ($155 million). Altogether, these countries covered 45% of the total imports value.
“In 2016 in the imports structure of food products in Ukraine major share accounted for the fruits, mainly citrus and bananas, as well as nuts – $ 476 million in total” – said the expert.
It is reported that the second highest volume of purchases accounted for tobacco – $429 million. TOP-3 imports also included fish and crustaceans products ($ 410 million in 2016 in total), although frozen fish share in this product group heavily predominated among other products.
In addition, imports of oilseeds (mainly due to sunflower seeds) totaled $270 million. Cocoa beans and chocolate purchases abroad accounted for $217 million, while coffee, tea and spices totaled $188 million. Oil purchases, which basically included palm and coconut oils, amounted $196 million. Finally, grain imports (mainly corn) equaled $149 million last year.
