Arseniy Yatsenyuk: Ukraine earned USD 11 billion from exports of agricultural products

"The total amount of funds from export of Ukrainian agricultural products makes up about USD 11 billion. This means inflow of foreign currency into the country and financial stabilization within the country", said Prime Minister of Ukraine Arseniy Yatsenyuk on Tuesday, February 16, at the Parliament during the Government's report on its activities for 2015.

Arseniy Yatsenyuk stressed that the previous year Ukraine had demonstrated record export volumes - 35 million tons of grain - and became third in export of grain crops in the world. Ukraine ranks first in the world in oil and honey, third - in grain exports.

"As was expected, the Russian Federation, in order to punish Ukraine for its European choice, signed an agreement on free trade area with the European Union and embarked on implementation of it, imposed a trade embargo against Ukrainian goods. Ukraine responded with retaliatory measures," stressed the Head of Government.

He informed that ten Ukrainian agricultural companies had already entered the European market.

"We're searching for and diversifying markets. We have actually cut fourfold the dependence of the Ukrainian economy on Russia. The share of exports to the Russian Federation in the agrarian sector makes up only 2%," said Arseniy Yatsenyuk.

New markets for the Ukrainian commodity items are the EU, Israel, Saudi Arabia and China, he stressed, noting record volumes of exports to China this year.

Arseniy Yatsenyuk reminded that in the current year there had changed the system of support for agrarian sector: "Last year the entire VAT was transferred directly to agrarians. This year we have found a compromise in a difficult dialogue of how to support farmers. But the sum worth 300 million hryvnias, which were allocated to compensate interest rates for the Ukrainian agrarians, provided an opportunity to take out a UAH 8 billion loan for the agricultural sector, including for small farms".

In addition, the Western partners granted about EUR 2 billion on the development of small and medium-sized enterprises in the agricultural sector.