EU exports to Ukraine are on the rise, imports falling

EU exports to Ukraine rose by 18 per cent in 2025, whilst imports fell by 19 per cent, according to the EU Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development’s latest report, published on 13 March.

The report says that the EU’s agri-food sector had another record-breaking year in 2025, strengthening its global leadership in agricultural trade. The EU maintained its position as the world’s largest agri-food exporter. In 2025, exports of agricultural and food products rose to €238.4 billion, an increase of 1 per cent compared with 2024 (€2.8 billion).

EU agri-food imports also reached a new record level of €188.6 billion in 2025, an increase of 9% compared to the previous record of 2024 (+ €16.2 billion). This made the EU the largest importer of agrifood products in 2025.

According to the report, in 2025, exports to the Eastern neighbourhood, Western Balkans and Türkiye continued their progression, reaching 9 per cent of EU exports in 2025, up from 6 per cent in 2022.

Exports to Ukraine continued to progress with an increase of €636 million compared to 2024 (+18 per cent), with increases across many categories, including coffee, tea, cocoa, and spices.

Exports to Russia decreased by €393 million (-6 per cent), due to decreases across most product categories.

EU imports from Eastern neighbourhood, Western Balkans and Türkiye decreased in 2025, as their share in EU imports declined from 15 per cent to 12 per cent, its lowest level since 2020. 

Ukraine slid back to the fourth spot in EU agrifood import sources in 2025 (6 per cent of EU import value). It was the origin with the largest reduction in import value (-€2.6 billion, -19 per cent ), to reach €10.6 billion. This was mainly explained by a strong reduction in imports of cereals ( -€2.2 billion, -49 per cent), due to lower volumes of both maize (-40 per cent , -1.2 million tonnes) and wheat (-65 per cent, -0.9 million tonnes). Imports of rapeseed also declined by €870 million (-52 per cent), as volumes declined by 56 per cent. 

By contrast, imports of vegetable oils increased by €261 million (+9 per cent ), due to higher prices and strong increase in volumes of rape oil (+51 per cent ) and soya oil (+58 per cent ) while volumes of sunflower oils declined (-25 per cent).

Imports of poultry and eggs also increased by  €208 million (+41 per cent), due to both higher volumes and prices.

The report also says that imports from Russia declined by €696 million (-66%), with reductions in almost all categories.

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