Ukraine is updating its export strategy and expanding its markets – Vitaliy Koval

The Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine, together with the Ministry of Economy and international experts, is developing a new export strategy for the Ukrainian agricultural sector.

This was reported by Vitaliy Koval, the head of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy, in an interview with LigaZakon.

“Ukraine is actively working on updating its export strategy, taking into account new opportunities and challenges arising from the EU’s tougher policy towards Ukrainian agricultural products. Therefore, it is now important to strengthen the competitiveness of Ukrainian agricultural products in international markets, agricultural producers need to adapt to EU requirements and standards, and it is also important to reorient sales markets, find new ones and expand the geography of exports. In addition, it is necessary to develop the production of value-added agricultural products, which will help increase revenues,” Vitaliy Koval emphasized.

The Minister said that in January-October 2024, according to the customs authorities, the total turnover of Ukrainian food and agricultural products amounted to USD 26 billion 419 million.

In particular, exports amounted to USD 20 billion 297 million, and imports – USD 6 billion 122 million. Accordingly, foreign exchange earnings from agricultural products and food products are expected to reach $24 billion this year, which is 10% more than last year.

The head of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy noted that the largest export growth is expected to be due to such commodity groups as oilseeds, food industry residues and waste, and grains.

“Ukraine’s gradual integration into the global seed regulatory systems (joining the OECD and ISTA seed schemes and recognizing the equivalence of EU certification procedures) opens up significant potential for further expansion of the geography of supply of domestically produced seeds,” he added.

In addition, according to him, in order to make Ukrainian agricultural products more competitive on the global market and ensure the stable development of the agricultural sector in the face of new challenges, the Government has adopted a resolution on the introduction of an export guarantee regime for certain types of agricultural products. The document aims to increase tax revenues to the state budget, regulate Ukraine’s balance of payments, and minimize uncontrolled currency outflows from Ukraine and abuse of foreign economic operations. This applies to the export of honey, nuts, wheat and a mixture of wheat and rye, rye, barley, oats, corn, soybeans, rapeseed, sunflower seeds, soybean oil, sunflower oil, rapeseed oil, and oil cake.

Tags: Ukraine, export, agricultural products