OREANDA-NEWS. February 09, 2016. “In 2015, the Ukrainian agribusinesses managed reached an almost impossible result – they have completely redirected foreign trade from the large market of the Russian Federation to the markets of Asia, EU, and Africa. This is evidenced by the official statistics”, Oleksiy Pavlenko, the Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine said.

According to the Minister, the top 5 countries with the largest share in the total trade turnover in agricultural products from Ukraine were China – 7.2% (\\$1.3 billion), India – 6.5% (\\$1.2 billion), Egypt – 5.7% (\\$1 billion), Turkey – 5.3% (\\$993.4 million) and Spain – 5.3% (\\$987.2 million).

Overall, for 12 months of 2015, the total amount of foreign trade turnover in agricultural products from Ukraine reached \\$18.5 billion, of which exports accounted for \\$14.8 billion, and imports – \\$3.7 billion.

Additionally, the previous year, the agricultural sector has achieved a positive trade balance in the amount of \\$11 billion, or \\$400 million higher than this rate for 2014. In terms of the export and import figures with almost all regions of the world, Ukraine has gained the surplus balance – that is the exports exceeding the imports.

“We have completed the year 2015 with an unexpected performance – rapid growth of exports to Asia, new markets, the surplus, exceeding the previous year’s rate. This statistics reflects not only our victories but also the prospects and directions for development”, Minister Oleksiy Pavlenko concluded.