Ukraine becomes third largest agricultural products supplier to EU

Ukraine, which in 2022 received the right to ship food products duty-free to the EU, has this year become one of the largest suppliers of agricultural products to the European Union, Ukrainian media reported, citing Polish publication farmer.pl and a report from the European Commission, Azernews reports, citing Interfax.

"Ukraine is one of the three largest suppliers of agricultural products to the EU," the European Commission's report on international trade said. Between January and September of this year, the EU increased its imports of agricultural products from Ukraine 11% compared to 2022," the publication said.

The value of Ukrainian agricultural exports to the EU from January through September 2023 reached 8.75 billion euro.

"Imports from Ukraine showed an increase in the period from January to September compared to 2022 (+891 million euro, or +11%), mainly due to an increase in grain imports," the European Commission report said.

The largest jump in imports was recorded in the first half of the year. Moreover, since June, imports have fallen below the 2022 level, and in September, they almost returned to the 2021 level, the European Commission said.

Based on the results of January-September, Ukraine was second only to Brazil and the UK in the list of the largest suppliers of agricultural products to the EU.

At the same time, Ukraine ranks 14th among recipients of agricultural products from the European Union. In January-September, Ukraine imported products from the EU worth 2.5 billion euros, which is 19% more than in the same period in 2022, farmer.pl said.