Ukrainian agricultural exports grow over 25% to 48.9 mln tonnes in Jan-Sept 2024 - State Customs Service

MOSCOW. Oct 23 (Interfax) - Ukrainian agricultural exports grew over 25% year-on-year to 48.9 million tonnes in January-September 2024, Ukrainian media said, citing the State Customs Service.

"During the first nine months of 2024, the volume of Ukrainian agricultural exports increased by more than a quarter, namely by 9.9 million tonnes. Their value increased by $1.4 billion. In total, Ukraine exported 48.9 million tonnes of agricultural products worth $10.5 billion within three quarters of 2024," the State Customs Service said in a statement on social networks.

The main source of growth was the resumption of maritime traffic, the statement said. Owning to that, 89% of agricultural exports are transported by sea. Exporters prefer rail for ground transportation, and only 2% of exports are carried by truck.

Grain crops remain the key group of exported agricultural products: 42.3 million tonnes of grain worth $7.1 billion were exported in nine months. Another significant component of agricultural exports are oilseeds, the exports of which amounted to 5 million tonnes worth $2.2 billion.

"The imports are a bit different story. In particular, 80% of imported agricultural products came to Ukraine by truck, versus 18% by sea and almost 2% by rail. This is mainly due to imports from European countries, in contrast to exports, where goods are delivered all over the world," the State Customs Service said.

In all, Ukraine imported 978,800 tonnes of agricultural products worth $1.7 billion. Almost half of all imports are edible fruits and nuts, which amounted to 468,000 tonnes worth $563.8 million. In addition, there were significant imports of vegetables in terms of quantity - 194,200 tonnes ($246.6 million) and significant imports of oilseeds in terms of value - $346.5 million (50,200 tonnes).