In March, Ukraine reduced agricultural exports by 4 times

According to the Ministry of Economy, in March 2022 Ukraine exported 1.1 million tons of corn, 309 thousand tons of wheat, 118 thousand tons of sunflower oil and 40 thousand tons of soybeans, which is 4 times less than was exported in February this year.

The agency noted that corn and sunflower oil (along with ores and ferroalloys) were the main items of Ukrainian exports in March.

In March, Ukraine exported 5.97 million tons of products worth $ 2.7 billion, while in February, 13.1 million tons of products worth $ 5.3 billion were exported, the Ministry of Economy said.

At the same time, the Russian invasion caused significant losses to Ukraine's imports. Thus, if in February Ukraine imported 5 million tons of goods worth $ 5.9 billion, in March - only 1.6 million tons worth $ 1.8 billion. The most important import positions for Ukraine now are natural gas, oil, oil products and coal.

Exports of grain and sunflower oil were carried out by loading on previously submitted ships, but after the invasion they remain blocked in the ports of Ukraine and need to unblock the Black Sea to exit.

Ukraine demands from the world community not only to close the skies to stop shelling of peaceful cities, but also to ensure free navigation for foreign ships in the Black Sea, or at least operations to withdraw them from the war zone.

BlackSeaNews Editor-in-Chief Andriy Klymenko said that on the evening of April 4, the Russian military damaged the foreign dry cargo ship Azburg, which was moored in the city port, during the shelling of Mariupol. The ship is flying the flag of Dominica, but is owned by Malta, which is part of the European Union. The ship's captain on the 16th international channel gave an SOS signal. The crew consists of 12 people, including 1 woman. One crew member was injured, a fire broke out in the engine room.

Azburg became the third foreign ship to come under fire in Russian ports from Russian troops.