The Ukrainian foreign trade through the Black Sea ports is gaining momentum despite the ongoing war and Russian efforts to undermine it. In the first seven months of this year, Ukraine's seaports handled nearly 60 million tonnes of cargo, almost as much as in 2023.
In July 2024, there was a significant surge in cargo turnover, with 7 million tonnes being transshipped, a figure that is 2.2 times higher than in 2023. This increase is a promising sign for the future of Ukrainian foreign trade. 4.2 million tonnes of agricultural products were exported to 46 countries.
In 2021, before the Russian full-scale invasion, Ukrainian ports handled over 153 million tonnes of cargo: 118 million tonnes of exports and 24 million tonnes of imports; the rest was transit and cabotage. The war's impact on businesses, Russian blocage, and attacks on ships and Ukrainian transhipment terminals halved these volumes in 2022 and 2023 to 60 million tonnes annually.
Many Ukrainian agribusinesses, including some of our clients, have had a painful season of 2022/2023. High logistic costs due to disruptions in maritime trade made their margins slim, if not negative. According to the benchmarking, key crops like corn and wheat had negative returns, while oilseeds provided some profitability.
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