Page 31 - UKRRptSept20

5.2​ Balance of payments, current account 5.2.1 ​Import/export dynamics
In June, Ukraine’s balance of payments switched to a $978mn deficit from a $353mn surplus in May. In 1H20, the surplus of the balance of payments amounted to $1.2bn (vs. a $0.7mn surplus in 1H19).
Ukraine has “tightened control” at Ukraine-Belarus border crossings in wake of Lukashenko’s charges that Ukraine is trying to destabilize his regime. “​We have tightened control at the border with Belarus, since the situation in this country is quite turbulent,” Border Guard spokesman Andriy Demchenko told RBK-Ukraine.
Ukraine is Belarus’ second largest trading partner, after Russia, Dmitry Chervyakov, a consultant with Berlin Economics, tells the Kyiv Post. Last year, Belarus exported $4.1bn in goods to Ukraine and imported $1.7bn. Ukraine bought four million tons of diesel and bitumen from Belarus for $2.4bn and fertilizers for $300mn, largely from Belaruskali, the potash producer. Many of Belarus’ imports from Ukraine are transshipped to Russia to skirt bilateral Russia-Ukraine trade bans.
China strengthens its position as Ukraine’s top trading partner, with $6.6bn in bilateral trade in the first half of 2020,​ according to the State Statistics Service. For perspective, bilateral trade between Ukraine and the United States amounted to just $382mn during the same period. China, Russia and Poland are Ukraine’s main export destinations. Ukraine’s top sources of imports are China, Germany and Russia.
Ukraine’s exports to South Korea grew by 89% to $252mn in the first half of 2020​, reports the State Statistics Service.
In January-June 2020, the volume of agricultural trade between Ukraine and the European Union decreased by 5.1% to $4.6bn. ​According to the National Scientific Centre "Institute of Agrarian Economics" (IAE), out of the total agricultural trade turnover between Ukraine and the EU, $3.0bn accounted for exports and $1.6bn - for imports. Ukraine’s largest trading partners in the EU are the Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Italy, Germany and France. Their combined share in the agricultural trade turnover is about 75%. In the first half of 2020, Ukraine provided the main volumes of supplies to the European Union with grains ($1.1bn) and oilseeds ($145mn), oils and fats ($957mn), food-industry residues and waste ($227mn). The IAE noted that there is no clearly defined commodity structure in imports to Ukraine from European countries. To a greater extent, in January-June 2020, Ukraine purchased dairy products (for $131mn), alcoholic beverages ($130mn), tobacco products ($130mn), animal feed products ($106mn) and various food products, including extracts of coffee, tea, sauces ($150mn). Since the beginning of 2020, domestic exporters have fully reached the annual quotas for honey, barley grits and flour, refined starch, canned tomatoes, apple and grape juices.
A near doubling of exports to China reduced Ukraine’s trade deficit to $1.3 billion for the first half of this year, the lowest level in recent years.
31​ UKRAINE Country Report​ September 2020 ​ ​www.intellinews.com