Ukraine's grain exports to Asian countries increased in 2016

In 2016, more than half of Ukraine's grain exports were sent to Asian countries, namely China, India, Indonesia and Thailand.

This is reported by the press service of the National Research Center 'Institute of Agrarian Economics' (IAE), citing IAE Deputy Director Mykola Puhachov.

“A distinctive feature of the year 2016 in Ukrainian grain exports was further strengthening of the Asian vector. Countries of this region took nine positions in the Top 10 main importers of Ukrainian cereals with a total share of 54.3%,” the report states.

Indonesia's grain imports increased by 2.1 times ($331 million), and its share reached 5.4%. Thailand's grain imports increased to $301 million with a share of 4.9%. China's share in Ukraine's total exports came to 7.6%.

India significantly increased the volume of grain purchases, although it imported a small amount of Ukrainian cereals in previous years. Last year Ukraine's grain exports to India amounted to $316 million, which is 5.2% of the total exports. Bangladesh also increased the volume of import deliveries from Ukraine.

According to Puhachov, Egypt has been taking the lead among the importers of Ukrainian cereals for years. In 2016, its share in Ukraine's exports was 12.4% ($755 million in value terms).

A reminder that Ukraine's grain exports came to 40.2 million tonnes in 2016, which is 7.5% higher than that recorded in 2015.

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