Polish Net Exports to Ukraine Have Surged 80% Since Russian Invasion

Poland’s trade balance with Ukraine surged to a record €7.1 billion in 2023 on the back of supplies of military goods and fuel, Monday’s edition of TVP World’s Business Arena program reports.

In 2019, Poland’s exports to Ukraine stood at €5.6 billion, growing to €6.3 billion by 2021.

However, Poland’s support of Kyiv since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by Russia in February 2022 has fostered cross-border trade with its neighbor.

Polish exports to Ukraine grew to €9.73 billion in 2022 and further increased to €11.4 billion in 2023, Eurostat data quoted in a report by the Centre for Eastern Studies indicates.

As Ukrainian exports to Poland have remained flat by comparison, Poland’s positive trade balance, which is the surplus of exports over imports, has ballooned by 80% from €3.7 billion in 2022 to €7.1 billion in 2023, the statistics show.

The lower output of Ukraine’s heavily damaged oil refineries prompted a massive rise in Polish fuel sales, which grew from €20 million in 2021 to some €1.6 billion in 2023, the Center for Eastern Studies found.

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Furthermore, the Center for Eastern Studies calculated that ammunition sales rose fifty-fold in the same period, totaling nearly €1 billion.

At the same time, exports of passenger cars made in Poland, which were destined mainly for frontline use, doubled, while arms and hydrocarbon exports grew from zero to €320 and €240 million, respectively.

Meanwhile, Business Arena reports that Polish companies are not just selling to Ukraine. They are also investing in their sixth-largest export market. Poland’s foreign direct investment into Ukraine now stands at €780 million.

Ukrainians moving away from war-torn areas have also brought capital to Poland, contributing €200 million in direct investment, according to Eurostat figures.

This article by David Kennedy is reprinted from TVP World.  See the original here.