EU trade with Ukraine has been strongly affected since the start of Russia's invasion, with an initial strong disruption recorded between February and March 2022, when the share of Ukraine with respect to extra-EU flows dropped for both imports and exports (-40% and -56%, respectively). However, in December 2022, the share of Ukraine in extra-EU exports was above the pre-war level (1.5% in December compared with 1.2% in February 2022) while imports remained slightly below (1.0% compared with 1.1%), EuroStat reports.
When looking at six key traded products, selected because of their relevance with respect to total extra-EU imports, the share of Ukraine in extra-EU imports declined for products such as sunflower oil (79.8% in 2022 compared with 87.5% in 2021; -7.7 percentage points), maize (47.5% compared with 50.7%; -3.1 pp), rape or colza seeds (31.0% compared with 39.2%; -8.2 pp) and iron and steel (4.4% compared with 10.7%; -6.3 pp).
On the other hand, the share of Ukraine in extra-EU imports grew for soya bean oil (37.6% in 2022 compared with 35.9% in 2021; +1.7 pp) and wood (11.6% compared with 9.8%; +1.8 pp).
