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5.2.1 Import/export dynamics
A free trade pact will boost prospects for Ukraine & Turkey to reach their goal of $10bn annually. Ukraine’s trade volume with Turkey could double to $10bn per year if the details on a long-awaited free trade deal are ironed out after years of negotiations. This is the prediction of Burak Pehlivan, the chairman of the Turkish-Ukrainian Business Association. Turkey is Ukraine’s fifth-largest trade partner and business ties between the two countries are growing every year.
Even though 2021 is not over yet, it has already seen a trade volume of $5bn, which has exceeded the total for the last pre-pandemic year of 2019.President Volodymyr Zelenskiy wants it to hit $6bn. Both countries are seeking European Union membership, but their attempts to join the bloc have been sidelined for years. This has encouraged them to explore opportunities for deeper cooperation with each other. Ukraine is one of only five countries in the world that have reciprocal passport-free travel arrangements with Turkey. According to Pehlivan, this is Turkey’s “mini-Schengen zone.”
However, commercial exchanges between the two countries are still hampered by the lack of a free trade agreement. Talks have been ongoing since 2007, although Ukraine’s trade volumes with Turkey are much higher than some nations with which it has a free trade agreement, such as Canada. After Turkey sold 12 Bayraktar TB2 military drones to Ukraine, which plans to buy even more, diplomatic relations between the two countries are now closer than ever, creating a golden opportunity to get the trade deal finalized.
The trade turnover between Ukraine and Georgia increased by 30% in 6 months said Denys Shmyhal on Twitter. This is clear evidence of friendly relations between our countries. I am convinced that our strategic cooperation will only be actively developed in the future.
Ukraine’s iron ore export boom is over, Alfa-Bank Ukraine reports. In October, for the first time this year, iron ore exports were down yoy – by 10% in this case. October were slightly less than $400 million -- half the nearly $800 million a month in sales recorded from May through August.
Ukraine increased Grain exports by 11.7%. During the marketing year July 2021/June 2022, Ukraine had boosted grain export to 16,536,000 tons, Ukrainian News Agency has reported. Ukraine has exported 10,737,000 tons of wheat, 4,022,000 tons of barley, 52,200 tons of rye, and 1,540,000 tons of corn. On the other hand, Ukraine had lowered the exportation of wheat flour and flour made from other crops by 33.4% and cut grain exportation by 21% or 12 million tons year over year to 44.7 million tons.
Ukrainian honey has become one of the tops exported food products.
Whilst we may see the main export goods for Ukraine are grain and iron ore, the export of honey is growing in both capacity and quality product. In 2020, Ukraine exported 80.8 thousand tons of honey, which is 45% more than in 2019. In recent years, the volume of honey production has increased twenty-fold. The export markets are the USA, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Malaysia, Lebanon, and Great Britain (DP World TIS). This growth means that Ukraine is becoming a leader in honey production in Europe, and challenging other honey producers.
23 UKRAINE Country Report November 2021 www.intellinews.com