Ukraine to see increased agricultural exports this year

Ukraine's export of agricultural goods will rise by some 31 percent year on year in 2012, Agriculture Minister Mykola Prysyazhnyuk said here Wednesday. "We expect that in 2012, Ukraine will export agriculture goods worth some 17 billion U.S. dollars, up from 13 billion in the previous year," Prysyazhnyuk told a press conference. This year, the country hopes to record a 10-billion-dollar surplus in agro trade with foreign countries, Prysyazhnyuk said. Grain, sunflower oil and oil seeds are the country's major export items during the current year, contributing to over half of the total supplies, according to the minister. In mid-November, Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych said his country has the potential to become a breadbasket for the rest of the world during the global food crisis. He has set a target of boosting the country's agricultural output by 30 percent in the next decade.