Export of goods decreased by 35.1% and amounted to $44.15 billion. Imports also fell – by 24.1%, reaching around $55.27 billion. The negative balance is “minus” 11.12 billion dollars. The negative balance of Ukraine’s foreign trade in goods in 2022 grew by 2.3 times compared to 2021 – to $11.3 billion.
Fighting continues in the area that had generated more than 20% of GDP before the war. It is not easy to fight and trade successfully in world markets, while improving the structure of merchandise exports.
In December 2022, seasonally adjusted export volume fell by 2.4% compared to November – to $3.38 billion, while imports rose by 9.8% m/m. – up to $5.35 billion.
The seasonally adjusted foreign trade balance in December 2022 was negative at $1.97 billion, while in November it was $1.41 billion and negative.
The import cover ratio was 0.8 in 2022 (0.93 in 2021).
The positive moment is that markets have not been lost: trade, as before the war, was carried out with more than 230 states and territories.
A quarter of export earnings (25.6%) was earned in January and February.
Then there were serious losses, but since June, based on seasonally adjusted data, exports have not fallen below the $3 billion mark for a single month.
Problems with logistics are the main deterrent.
Before the war, about 80% of products were exported by sea – now there is no such possibility.
Exporting a large part of products by land (rail or road) is much more expensive, sometimes not at all profitable. For some products, this is technically impossible. Capacity within the country and at the border is limited.
Although the Istanbul Grain Agreement allowed agricultural products to be transported by sea, starting from August, this corridor has been systematically hampered by the aggressor state since mid-autumn.
Despite all sorts of obstacles created by the aggressor, the lion’s share of the proceeds came from the export of agricultural products and the food industry – their share was 73.6%. There is a significant decrease in metallurgical products, primarily ferrous metallurgy- its exports decreased by 67.5%, and the share fell to 10.3%. In general, this is in line with the trend observed in terms of production volumes after the loss of Azovstal and MMK.
Nevertheless, Ukraine is grateful to every exporter, because every dollar of export earnings is very important for the economy, budget, hryvnia.
