Ukraine is one of the major players in the global agricultural market, ensuring export shipments of significant amounts of food. For example, the average total annual export of just four key commodities – Corn, Wheat, Sunflower Oil and Sunflower Meal – estimated at 3 million tonnes over the last 58,1 seasons, accounting for more than 14% of total world exports of these commodities. However, if for corn and wheat the average annual share of Ukrainian exports in total world trade is estimated at 15% and 10%, for sunflower oil and sunflower meal these indicators are 51% and 58%, respectively.
The main buyers of Ukrainian grain are China, EU countries, Egypt, Turkey and Indonesia. At the same time, the share of Ukrainian export of the main crops in procurement of these markets is quite significant. For example, the share of Ukrainian corn shipments in total imports from China after 2020/21 reached 29%, Egyptian imports reached 25%, and EU imports reached 51%. In the wheat segment, according to the results of the previous season, Ukraine provided 25% of Indonesian imports, 20% of Egyptian imports and 10% of Turkish imports.
As for the oil segment, the presence of Ukrainian products in key markets is stronger. The main buyers of sunflower oil are India, the EU and China. In 2020/21, the share of Ukrainian oil in the total import of these countries was 78%, 88% and 68%, respectively. The Ukrainian sunflower meal is also actively bought by China and the EU, and the third position in the rating is occupied by Turkey. The share of Ukrainian products in the total import of these countries in the previous season was 88%, 51% and 34%, respectively.
The three leaders for imports of four of these commodities from Ukraine in total in 2021 were China (10,7 million tons), the EU (10,0 million tons) and Egypt (5,5 million tons). At the same time, in the current conditions of almost complete absence of export deliveries through ports for Ukraine, the EU market remains the key market.