Page 36 - UKRRptFeb21

as the third largest source of imported food for the EU. In terms of market share, the ranking was: Brazil – 9%; US – 8%; and China and Ukraine – 5%. Last year, Ukraine fully used its quotas for duty-free export to the EU for 11 product foods: honey, sugar, cereals and flour, starch, processed tomatoes, grape and apple juices, eggs, corn, poultry, and processed cereal products.
Ukraine saved $3.4bn last year on oil imports, cutting its import bill by 36% y/y,​ reports the State Customs Service. In volume terms, Ukraine cut imports by 5%, to 8mn tons. Top suppliers were: Russia - $1.2bn; Belarus - $1.2bn; Lithuania -- $400mn.
Ukrainian companies transported 11% less cargo last year compared to 2019,​ reports the State Statistics Service. Of the 600mn tons, Ukrzaliznytsia carried slightly over half – 305.5mn tons. The state railroad only recorded a cargo drop of 2.4%. For the other modes of transport: trucks down 22%, to 191mn tons; river barges down 8%, to 5.6mn tons; airplanes down 6.7%, to 100,000 tons; and pipelines down 35%, to 58bn cubic meters.
Ukraine’s overall exports of vegetables oils were up 5% to a record 6.6mn tons​ in the marketing year that ended last August. Vegetable oils accounted for 5% of Ukraine’s sea-borne exports, according to Stark Shipping’s Annual Report on the Export of Ukrainian Vegetable Oils.
Grain exports are down 21% y/y, for the first seven months of the marketing year​, reports the Ministry of Agriculture. Due to a poor corn harvest, wheat displaced corn as Ukraine’s top export. For the latest July 1 – February 1 period, the top three export grains are: wheat – down 18%, to 13mn tons; corn – down 30%, to 11.4mn tons; and barley – unchanged at 3.9mn tons.
With Russia and Argentina imposing export restrictions on wheat, the export price of Ukrainian wheat has hit a six year high, ​reports APK-Inform. Deputy Economy Minister Kachka writes on Facebook: “Already, the number of requests for cooperation on food security from foreign partners has increased significantly.”
With the corn harvest down 15% y/y and prices at seven-year highs,
Ukraine’s government decided in February on a request by pig and poultry producers to limit corn exports to 22mn tons – three times domestic needs. Traders fear this will create more turbulence in the Black Sea market. Russia, fearing unrest over rising food prices, plans to impose a higher export tax on wheat and corn in March.
With Russia easing its maritime restrictions of Ukraine’s Sea of Azov ports, Mariupol increased its grain exports by 20% y/y, to 623,000 tons. This year, tonnage could hit 1mn tons, if a new grain handling complex is completed, says Igor Barskiy, port director. Through October, the port had handled 5mn tons of cargo, a 9% y/y increase. Located 25 km west of the front line, Mariupol is the main port for Donetsk Region.
Due to higher commodity prices, grain exports were down 53% y/y in January,​ but export earnings were down only 41%, reports the Ukrainian Agricultural Business Club. Halfway through the marketing year, Ukraine has used up three quarters of its self-imposed 17.5-million-ton wheat export quota. Due to the poor harvest, this year’s export quota is 15% below the 2019/2020
36​ UKRAINE Country Report​ February 2021 ​ ​www.intellinews.com