The economy of Ukraine is gradually adapting to functioning under martial law, which affects foreign trade. Thus, Ukraine’s trade turnover began to recover compared to the 1st half of 2023, even showing a slight increase of 5%. According to the results of 9 months of 2023, the decrease in foreign trade is already 13.8%, which amounts to $7.0 billion (9.5% of the total of Ukraine). The foreign trade balance deteriorated due to the continued growth in imports with a moderate decrease in exports. The surplus decreased 10-fold compared to the same period of the previous year and amounted to $224.4 million ( 9 months of 2022: $2349.7 million).

In 3 quarters of 2023, enterprises of Dnipropetrovsk region exported their own products for $3610.9 million (13.3% of Ukraine’s exports). Export volumes decreased by 30.7%, caused by a decline in exports of major goods groups related to logistics, difficulties in the supply of raw materials, high production costs, rising prices for rail freight and high energy prices.

The largest share of exports was formed by ferrous metals and products made of them 43.3% ($1561.8 million), and mineral products 28.5% ($1030.4 million).

At the same time, there has been an increase in exports of the following types of goods compared to three quarters of 2022:

• pharmaceutical products by 3.7 times ($1.1 million)
• cork and cork products by 3.2 times ($462 thousand);
• coffee and tea by 6.3 times ($36.1 thousand);
• plant materials for food production by 7.1 times ($1.3 million);
• sugar and sugar confectionery by 5 times ($8.9 million);
• milk and dairy products; poultry eggs; natural honey by almost 2 times ($7.3 million);
• cereals by 2.4 times ($113.1 million).

Unlike exports, imports of goods increased by 18.3% to $3386.5 million (7.3% of Ukraine’s imports), reflecting both rising global prices for the main goods imported by Ukraine and certain changes in the goods structure of imports.

Electric machinery, mineral products, ferrous metals, and pharmaceuticals remain the most popular products among domestic consumers.

Compared to the previous period of 2022, imports of the following types of goods increased significantly, namely:

• aircraft 155 times ($39.2 million)
• watches by 4.5 times ($4.1 million);
• copper and copper products by 6.6 times ($4.4 million);
• natural and artificial fur by 8.6 times ($123.1 thousand);
• live trees and other plants by 4.6 times ($5.7 million);
• gunpowder and explosives by 3.6 times ($3.7 million);
• alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages by 2.3 times ($68.9 million).

 Foreign trade operations were conducted with partners from 151 countries.