Ukraine seeks expanded cooperation in agriculture with Japan

“Ukraine has opportunities to expand trade and economic cooperation in agriculture with Japan. Given the large market capacity and high financial solvency of Japan, the potential of its market is high for Ukraine. It is particularly attractive for producers of agricultural products and foodstuffs, since Japan is 60% dependent on imports, especially regarding the basic grain crops, to meet its food needs,” Oleksii Pavlenko, the Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine, said during a meeting with Hiromichi Matsushima, the Vice-Minister for International Affairs of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of Japan. The negotiations were held within the framework of the Global forum for Food and Agriculture in Berlin.

According to Oleksii Pavlenko, for 11 months of 2015, the trade turnover in agricultural products between Ukraine and Japan amounted to $148,8 million, with an increase of nearly $70 million compared to the same period of the previous year.
In particular, the share of exports increased 2 times and amounted to $147.2 million. Major Ukrainian exports to Japan include cereals ($96 million), tobacco and tobacco products ($49 million). Minor quantities of other exported goods supplied to Japan include residues and waste of the food industry ($376 million), cheeses and yogurts ($299 thousand), honey ($138 thousand) and oilseeds ($177 thousand).

At the same time, imports from Japan decreased by 64% and amounted to $1,6 million. Japanese imports to Ukraine consists mainly of a variety of other food products ($852 thousand), essential oils ($468 thousand), alcohol ($84 thousand), honey ($79 thousand), fish, crustaceans and molluscs ($50 thousand).

The Minister also noted that an important direction of the bilateral cooperation was to attract Japanese investments in the economy of Ukraine. The signing of the Agreement on Promotion and Reciprocal Protection of Investments between Ukraine and Japan of February 5^th, 2015, gave an important impetus for the development of Ukrainian-Japanese investment cooperation.

“We should consider the implementation of cooperation projects in the field of improving Ukrainian agricultural enterprises through the development of cooperatives and advancement of their material and technical resources, including logistics, grain elevators and export terminals through the application of Japanese technologies, expertise, investment with the aim of increasing the exports of agricultural products to Japan”, the Minister of Agrarian Policy stressed.

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