For data According to the State Customs Service, during the first five months of 2025, the total volume of goods imported into Ukraine amounted to 31.3 billion US dollars. At the same time, the value of goods exported from the country reached 16.9 billion dollars.
Thus, a significant trade deficit is observed: Ukraine purchased almost twice as many goods abroad as it sold.
Of the total volume of imported goods, 23.8 billion dollars fell on the so-called “taxed imports” – that is, goods on which customs payments were charged when imported into Ukraine. This segment accounts for approximately 76% of all import transactions. On average, the tax burden on each kilogram of such goods was 0.51 dollars, an amount that includes customs duties, excise duty, value added tax (VAT) and other mandatory payments levied at the time of importation.
According to the partner countries, the largest volume of imported products came from China – 6.5 billion dollars, followed by Poland with an indicator of 2.9 billion, and third place was taken by Germany – 2.6 billion dollars. This indicates the preservation of the traditional geography of supply with an emphasis on the Asian manufacturing segment and European industrial economies.
Most of the goods imported to Ukraine fall into three main categories:
- Machines, equipment and vehicles — the value of this group of goods in January-May amounted to 11.9 billion dollars. At the same time, during their customs clearance, 75.6 billion hryvnias of taxes and duties were transferred to the state budget, which amounted to 29% of all customs revenues for this period.
- Products of the chemical industry are worth 5.2 billion dollars. During the registration of these goods, 41 billion hryvnias were paid to the budget – this is approximately 15% of the total revenue from customs payments.
- Fuel and energy products were imported for 4 billion dollars, and the budget received 72.6 billion hryvnias of tax revenues, which is 27% of the total volume of customs duties.
Together, these three categories — machines, chemicals and energy resources — cover 68% of the total volume of imports to Ukraine for the five months of 2025. This indicates a significant energy and technological dependence, as well as a systemic need for raw materials and components for Ukrainian industry and infrastructure.
The volume of Ukrainian exports during the same period reached 16.9 billion dollars. The biggest buyers of Ukrainian goods were:
– Poland – 2 billion dollars
– Turkey – 1.4 billion dollars
– Italy – 1 billion dollars
These countries are stable trade partners of Ukraine and form the basis of exports, especially in the agricultural and metallurgical sectors.
The top three goods exported from Ukraine in January-May 2025 included:
– food products – in the amount of 9.7 billion dollars. This includes grains, oil, seeds, food raw materials, as well as other agricultural products;
– metals and metal products – exported for 1.9 billion dollars. This is a traditional article of Ukrainian export, in particular, products of ferrous metallurgy;
– machines, equipment and transport – the export value of this group amounted to 1.5 billion dollars, which indicates the preservation, albeit limited, presence of Ukrainian engineering products on international markets.
It should be noted that some types of goods are also subject to taxation when exported from Ukraine. The total amount of export duty paid to the budget for January-May 2025 was 121.6 million hryvnias. This is significantly less than the revenue from import duties and indicates the insignificant fiscal role of exports in the customs revenue system.
