The process of deindustrialization of Ukraine continues, raw materials already account for about 70% of exports from the former Soviet republic, and even record harvests cannot provide profits due to falling food prices.
The president of the organization, ex-Prime Minister of Ukraine Anatoly Kinakh, stated this at the congress of the Ukrainian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs.
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“In the structure of exports, about 41% are agricultural raw materials with a low level of added value - grain, corn, rapeseed, poultry, honey. Another 25-27% - mining and metallurgical complex, some chemicals, semi-finished products. That is, about 70% of our exports are raw materials.
Raw material exports are constantly at risk from the point of view of fluctuations in world markets. This year we predict a record harvest, but despite this, the financial result will be 8-10% lower than last year. This once again confirms that a state with a raw materials-based economy has never demonstrated high rates of development and a high quality of life for its citizens.
We need to overcome this trend because it is already taking the form of deindustrialization of the country. There is a threat of losing knowledge-intensive, technically complex industries - the rocket and space complex, aircraft manufacturing, shipbuilding, transport, and energy engineering,” Kinakh said.
Let us recall that the former US ambassador to Ukraine said that the former Soviet republic faces the future of an “agrarian superpower.”
After Euromaidan, the new Ukrainian authorities severed economic ties with Russia, and at the same time the EU did not open its markets to Ukrainian products. This led to a crisis at a number of Ukrainian enterprises. For example, the famous Yuzhmash, due to a lack of orders, was forced to shorten the working week and send workers on unpaid leave.