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Despite the war, Ukraine remains one of the main suppliers of agricultural products to the European Union. This is evidenced by the data for eight months of 2023, given in the new report of the European Commission.

Ukraine was in third place in terms of the volume of agricultural products supplied to the EU with an absolute figure of 8 billion euros from January 2023.

The total volume of European imports from Ukraine from January to August, inclusive, remained higher by 23%, or by 1.5 billion euros, compared to the same period in 2022.

At the same time, since June, the monthly indicators of the supply of agricultural products from Ukraine have slowed down somewhat.

Imports of agricultural products in the EU – countries with the most important changes (million euros)

As for the largest importers for the EU in the period from January to August 2023, the top three include Brazil, United Kingdom and Ukraine.

The top ten also includes the United States, China, Turkey, Indonesia, Argentina, the Republic of Switzerland and Ivory Coast.

Import of agricultural products to the EU – TOP-15 importing countries (million euros)

Imports to the EU increased to a monthly rate of 5% in August 2023 and reached 12.5 billion euros, which is 15% less than the level of August 2022.

Total imports in the period from January to August 2023 inclusive reached 107.4 billion euros, which showed only a slight decrease compared to the same period in 2022 (-3%, or – 3 billion euros).

One in five families in Ukraine faces a food shortage due to the consequences of the Russian war, said Matthew Hollingworth, representative of the World Food Program in Ukraine, at a meeting of the UN Security Council.

Previously, Ukraine, which regularly supplied food to 400 million people around the world, faced serious challenges in the food sector, especially in 80% of settlements located near the front line.