Ukrainian agricultural exports hit record high of $18.8 bln in 2018

"For full year 2018, Ukrainian agricultural exports grew by more than $880 million compared with 2017 and hit a record high of $18.8 billion. During this period, the volume of agricultural exports to the markets of Asia and the European Union significantly increased. Ukrainian agricultural exports to the Asian countries exceeded $8 billion, and we exported the agricultural and food products to the tune of more than $6.3 billion to the EU countries in 2018," Deputy Agrarian Policy and Food Minister of Ukraine Olha Trofimtseva said, the press service of the Ministry reports.

According to her, the total foreign trade turnover of Ukrainian agricultural products exceeded $24.3 billion in 2018.

The deputy minister noted that the greatest share of Ukrainian agricultural exports was traditionally formed by grain crops (38.4%), vegetable oil (23.3%), oil seeds (10.2%).

In 2018, the major buyers of Ukrainian agricultural and food products were India (which imported Ukrainian agricultural products to the tune of over $1.8 billion), China ($1.2 billion), the Netherlands ($1.2 billion), Spain ($1.04 billion) and Egypt ($888.7 million).

"During this period, the imports of agricultural and food products also increased significantly and totaled almost $5.5 billion. Ukraine’s top imports were fish, crustaceans and mollusks, fruits, nuts, tobacco and tobacco products, cocoa beans, chocolate, vegetable oil, tea, coffee and other items," Trofimtseva summed up.