EU exports to Ukraine exceeded pre-war levels

Exports from European Union (EU) member states to Ukraine, hit hard by the start of the invasion of Russia in February 2022, exceeded pre-war levels last December, according to data released this Wednesday by Eurostat.

According to the EU’s official statistics office, EU trade with Ukraine has “been hit hard since the beginning of the Russian invasion. [a 24 de fevereiro do ano passado]with strong initial outrage between February and March 2022, when Ukraine’s share of out-of-EU flows declined for both imports and exports”, around -40% and -56%, respectively.

“However, in December 2022, Ukraine’s share of non-EU exports was above pre-war levels,” at 1.5% compared to 1.2% in February 2022, while imports remained slightly lower (1.0% on compared to 1.1%). ).

Eurostat clarifies that when analyzing the six most relevant products in terms of imports, the share of Ukraine in EU imports decreased for such products as sunflower oil (79.8% in 2022 against 87.5% in 2021), corn (47 .5% vs. 50.7% ), rapeseed or canola (31.0% vs. 39.2%) and iron and steel (4.4% vs. 10.7%).

Last May, the EU created so-called “corridors of solidarity” to ensure that Ukraine can continue to export grains and other agricultural products, as well as import goods it needs, from humanitarian aid to animal feed and fertilizers. .

According to the EU Council, as of mid-February, “thanks to the EU solidarity corridors, 23 million tons of grain and related products were exported from Ukraine, which is equivalent to 20 billion euros in revenue.”

Another measure of solidarity adopted by the EU at the trade level, also in May, was the adoption of a regulation allowing for a one-year temporary liberalization of trade and other trade concessions for certain Ukrainian goods.