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year, the USDA forecasts that Ukraine’s grain exports will be up 10% y/y, to a record 55mn tons.
Revenue from exports of oilseeds is up by 23% y/y through September, to $1.6bn,​ reports the Institute of Agricultural Economics. Top seeds are canola, soy, and sunflower. During the same period, exports of sunflower oil were up by 3%, to $3bn. Popular as cooking oil, Ukraine’s sunflower oil goes to: India – 31%; China -- 15%; the Netherlands -- 10%; Spain -- 6%; Iraq -- 5.9%; Italy --5.8%; and Poland --3.6%.
5.2.2​ Gross international reserves
Ukraine's international reserves decreased by 0.2% month-on-month to $21.4bn in October ​following ​a 2.6% m/m drop​ in September, according to the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU).
Over the past month, the Ukrainian government paid $632.3mn in equivalent for servicing and repaying state and state-guaranteed debt in foreign currency. Of this amount, $475.5mn was spent on servicing and repaying government domestic loan bonds in foreign currency, $78mn on Eurobonds, the rest of the funds on other liabilities to foreign creditors and international financial institutions.
However, these expenses were partially offset by revenues in favor of the government in the amount of 262.1mn from international partners, including the European Commission, according to the central bank.
The NBU also purchased $193.9mn on the net basis in October. The amount of international reserves was also affected by an increase in the value of financial instruments - changes in market value, the hryvnia to FX exchange rate- by $115mn.
As of early November, Kyiv's international reserves covered 3.4 months of Ukraine’s imports and "were sufficient for Ukraine to meet its obligations and for the government and the NBU to conduct their current transactions", according to the regulator.
36​ UKRAINE Country Report​ December 201 ​ ​www.intellinews.com