Japan Considers Opening to Ukrainian Poultry and Other Farm Products

Ukraine’s Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food reported on June 3 that Japan is considering opening its market for Ukrainian farm products, particularly chicken meat.

Japan has already launched several projects and financial aid to Ukraine’s agricultural sector.

The announcement came about the intention to “open Asian markets came in a press release, although no specific details or proposed Asian markets were mentioned.

“We can judge that it’s only referring to the Japanese market, and Singapore or South Korea at best,” Pavlo Martyshev an analyst at the Kyiv School of Economics Agrocenter told Kyiv Post. “Japan cannot speak on behalf of all Asian countries, especially since China has an independent food policy.”

Discussions between acting agricultural minister Taras Vysotsky and Japan’s ambassador in Ukraine Matsuda Kuninori focused on priority sectors for collaboration in the agricultural sector between the two countries.

Japan will also participate in the Ukraine Recovery Conference (URC2024) in Berlin, June 11-12. Tokyo will organize a round table dedicated to Ukraine-Japan cooperation in the agricultural sector.

Japan has been a partner of Ukraine’s since years before Russia’s invasion, providing Ukrainian farmers and municipalities with financial support through the World Bank programs.

The trade volumes between two countries, however, are modest: Japan comes in 28th place in the rankings of partners by trade volumes, Ukraine’s embassy in Japan estimates.

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In 2021, the total volume of bilateral trade turnover in goods and services reached $1.6 billion. Russia’s invasion caused it to drop to $761 million in 2022, but it rose somewhat, to almost $897 million in 2023.

Asian countries apart from India and China comprised 9-10 percent of Ukraine’s exports in 2022 and 2023.

The total volume of bilateral trade with the “rest of Asian” countries is estimated at $9.2 billion in 2022, and $9.6 billion in 2023, according to the estimates made by Veronika Movchan, Head of the Center for Economic Studies at The Institute for Economic Research and Policy Consulting.