REUTERS
Agri-food shipments abroad in January-October 2018 grew by almost $140 million year-over-year.
Experts at the Ukrainian Agribusiness Club Association (UCAB) say Ukraine in 2018 may boost agri-exports to a record high level of US$18 billion.
"If the current dynamics continue in future, there is every chance that this year Ukraine will be able to reach record high exports of agricultural products at $18 billion," the UCAB's press service said in a statement on November 14.
In particular, agri-food shipments abroad in January-October 2018 grew by almost $140 million year-over-year, to $14.7 billion, the experts said.
At the same time, the share of agri-exports in general structure of Ukrainian exports in the 10 months of 2018 was 37.8%, while there was a lag of exports in January-August from the last year's figures, the report said.
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"In the past quarter alone, we managed to catch up with the 2017 indicators and exceed them as of October," it said.
Exports of livestock products increased by 11.9% or by $106 million, mainly due to shipments of poultry meat abroad (growth by $102 million). Exports of crop products grew by 3%, mainly due to wheat ($174 million), rapeseeds ($90 million), and maize ($88 million).
Exports of finished food products grew by 4%, or by $80 million, mainly due to the sale of soybean oil meal worth $37 million.
Shipments of fats and oils abroad shrank by 7%, or by $262 million. The main cause behind the reduction was a decline in sunflower oil sales to China.
Ukraine exported agri-food worth $17.9 billion in 2012, which was a record high over the past years, the press service added.
As UNIAN reported earlier, Ukrainian farmers exported foodstuffs worth $17.8 billion in 2017, which was 16% up from 2016.