Ukraine reaches pre-war volumes of exports by sea - Shmyhal

This was announced by the Prime Minister of Ukraine, Denys Shmyhal, who spoke at a government meeting on Tuesday, Ukrinform reports.

"The Ukrainian maritime logistics corridor has been operating for six months. Half a year ago, we lifted the Black Sea blockade and intensified Ukraine’s maritime trade," he recalled.

The head of government noted that in parallel lines, Ukraine launched a project on insuring Ukrainian exports against war-related risks.

He explained that this is about insuring vessels checking in Ukrainian ports.

"More than 660 ships have already passed through the new grain corridor, transporting about 20 million tons of cargo to 32 countries," Shmyhal said.

Some 70% of these cargoes are agricultural products from Ukrainian producers.

"In January, we reached the pre-war volume of exports by sea, and in terms of the total volume of exports, we are already approaching the indicators we had prior to the full-scale invasion," the Prime Minister added.

At the same time, the head of the Ukrainian government emphasized that last month, in monetary terms, total Ukrainian exports amounted to $3.1 billion, of which $1.9 billion was sea exports. He emphasized that this helps accumulate funds "because every hryvnia that comes to the budget from export trade goes to ensure defense, to better support our military, to drones and ammunition, to innovative products of our defense industry, and much more."

In addition, Shmyhal emphasized that increasing exports strengthens the country's economy.

In the first month of 2024, the state budget received 14% more taxes and 30% more customs payments than targeted.

"In general, the general fund of the state budget received UAH 116 billion, while the overall receipts of the general and special fund amounted to UAH 154.2 billion," Shmyhal concluded.

As Ukrinform reported earlier, Ukraine proactively took export operations to neighboring countries under tougher control and unblocked the maritime corridor for grain supplies to foreign markets, which allowed to address the problems of agricultural exports.