Ukraine’s exports of goods and services grew by 28% YoY in the first quarter of 2017, to $12.4 billion, up by $2.7 billion, according to the Ukrainian Economic Development and Trade Ministry’s press service.
At the same time, exports of goods increased by 34.4% (by $2.7 billion), to $10.4 billion. The share of agriculture and the food industry was the largest in goods exports, namely 44%, while metallurgical products accounted for 23.4%, machine engineering for 10.4%, and mineral products for 9.2%.
According to the ministry, almost all branches of the Ukrainian economy showed growth in exports of goods, except for the wood and pulp industry (a 7% drop in exports) and the chemical industry (a 0.1% decrease). The decline in these sectors was due to a decrease in exports to Russia (by 26.1%, or by $18.4 million), Turkey (by 24.9%, or by $9.1 million) and China (by 61.4%, or by $8.2 million). Shipments of wood and pulp to 28 EU countries rose by $1.2 million, or by 0.6%. At the same time, the EU share in the exports of timber and pulp from Ukraine is 60%.
The goods exports grew due to ores and iron concentrates (an increase in exports by $331.9 million), sunflower oil (by $315.7 million), soybeans (by $225.9 million), hot- and flat-rolled products (by $190 million), corn (by $140.4 million), semi-finished products of steel (by $125.2 million), sugar (by $116.3 million), wheat (by $110.6 million), ferroalloys (by $100.7 million), and barley (by $65.8 million).
Almost all regions demonstrated an increase in goods exports. Noteworthy, the city of Kyiv, as well as Dniepropetrovsk, Donetsk, Zaporizhia, Poltava, Mykolayiv, Kyiv, Vinnytsia and Lviv regions reported the highest export growth in Q1, accounting for 85% of the increase in exports of goods.
The European Union remained the key trading partner of Ukraine, accounting for 38.4% of goods exports in Q1, while Russia’s share was 9%.
The shipments of goods to the EU countries rose by $782.3 million (by 24.5%) over the period under review, which was the largest increase in exports of goods in value terms among all Ukraine’s trade partners. (UNIAN/Business World Magazine)