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although the volume decreased slightly by 3.1% to 2.01 million tons. “Petroleum products account for 25% of the import volume and 16% of the value," Kachka said.
Minister: Ukraine's grain exports won't reach 3 million tons this month. Ukraine's grain exports will fail to reach 3 million tons in November as Russia intentionally limits ship inspections, Infrastructure Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov said on Nov. 27. In October, Ukraine exported 4.2 million tons of grain under the Black Sea Grain Initiative, Kubrakov said.
Ukraine launches ‘Grain from Ukraine’ program to support Africa's struggling countries. The program was symbolically launched on the anniversary of the Holodomor, the artificial famine organised by the Soviet authorities, which killed millions of Ukrainians in 1932-1933. Ukraine considers Holodomor an act of genocide of Ukrainians, and has been fighting for it to be recognized as such globally.
The Grain from Ukraine initiative already has more than 30 participating countries. More than 30 countries and international organisations have declared their support for the humanitarian program Grain from Ukraine, launched by the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Japan and the Republic of Korea announced their support for the initiative through financial assistance. Other countries that have already joined the initiative are Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Great Britain, Greece, Estonia, the EU, Ireland, Spain, Italy, Canada, Qatar, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Germany, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, the US, Turkey, Hungary, Finland, France, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Switzerland, and Sweden, as well as NATO and the UN. As part of the program, more than $180M has already been accumulated, which will be used to supply Ukrainian food to countries in Africa and Asia that are suffering the most from hunger.
Ukraine faces significant difficulties in exporting grain by rail. The failure to fulfil orders for grain cargo transportation toward western border crossings has reached 49%. According to a Ukrainian Railways (UZ) manager, Valery Tkachov, only 9,046 of the agreed-upon 17,709 wagons were loaded and shipped during October. Tkachov notes that border crossing officials refused some shipments due to limited capacity. At the same time, the businesses that have received opportunities are not fulfilling their load plans. Thus, the percentage of implementation of negotiated plans for food products (sunflower oil and others) is approximately 50%. 1,585 wagons of loaded capacity was agreed upon, and only 790 were loaded. The main reason for the failure to fulfil these plans is an overestimation of export amount.
Ukraine is the largest supplier of butter and cheese to the EU. In three quarters of 2022, Ukraine became the largest supplier of butter and cheese to the European Union countries, as reported by the Infoagro analytical agency. It is noted that Ukraine exported 4,300 tons of butter to the EU in nine months and claimed the top position in the rating. According to analysts, competition for these products comes from Turkey and New Zealand, but Ukraine will retain its leading position at the end of the year. During the same period, Ukraine delivered 1,500 tons of cheese to the EU. The agency notes that Ukraine has become the largest supplier of this product to the EU for the first time but expects that it will end the year in second place. Experts explain that Ukrainian companies managed to increase the export of butter and cheese
32 UKRAINE Country Report December 2022 www.intellinews.com