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(MY), which is 25% up from the previous MY.
With two months left in the grain marketing year, farmers have exported 41mn tons – topping the 40mn tons exported during all of the previous marketing year. Ukraine has exported: 23mn tons of corn, 14mn tons of wheat, and 3.3mn tons of wheat. Underlining Ukraine’s role as a world food power, total grain exports could hit 50mn tons this year.
Poultry meat exports are up by 38% q-o-q, to 103,000 tons for $147mn,
reports the Ukrainian Food Export Board. The top buyers during the first quarter were: Saudi Arabia - 27% or $40mn; the Netherlands – 16.5% or $24.3mn and Slovakia - 10% or $14mn. Last year, Ukraine exported 330,00 tons making it the seventh largest poultry meat exporter in the world.
Butter, honey, and soybean oil offer the best prospects for export as processed, pre-packaged products. With food exports growing every year since 2015, Ukraine has done a good job in diversifying from its historic reliance on Russia, UNIAN says. Since 2014, Ukraine’s food exports to China have increased nearly seven times. Last year, Ukrainian producers opened 85 new foreign markets for their products.
Ukraine’s fruits and nuts export revenues rose by 22%, to $25mn, during the first two months of this year, compared to January-Febuary period of last year. February’s exports of $25mn were double the level of two years ago, according to EastFruit information and analytical platform.
5.2.3 Gross international reserves
Ukraine’s international reserves as of the beginning of May amounted to $20.525bn, which is 0.5% lower than a month earlier, the National Bank of Ukraine reported on its website. Reserves have shrunk, despite the favorable situation in the foreign exchange market, as a result of a significant volume of payments on public debt. Read also Ukraine's Central Bank explains why hryvnia gets stronger Thus, during the month, $881.7mn was allocated for servicing and paying off state and publicly guaranteed debt in foreign currency. These expenses were partially compensated by the proceeds from the placement of T-bills in foreign currency worth EUR 416.6mn and EUR 2.6mn. In addition, the favorable situation in the foreign exchange market allowed the NBU to replenish reserves through the purchase of foreign currency worth $299.9 mn. Due to the revaluation of financial instruments, the cost of reserves increased by $54 mn. According to the data presented, since the beginning of the year, reserves have decreased by 1.4%. It is also reported that as of May 1, the volume of reserves covers 3.4 months of future imports. The central bank had revised upwards its forecast for Ukraine's international reserves in 2019 from $20.6bn, to $21.2bn. The forecast for 2020 was also improved from $21.4bn to $21.9bn, while that for 2021 was revised upwards from $21.4bn to $21.8bn, according to the regulator's website. The NBU also improved the balance of payments forecast, reducing its deficit in 2019 from $1.1bn to $0.3bn.
36 UKRAINE Country Report June 2019 www.intellinews.com