Ukrainian businesses build new connections to the world markets

Fruit and vegetable producers in southern Ukraine are better equipped to connect to international buyers, following training by the International Trade Centre in how to analyze and identify potential market opportunities.

The two training seminars, in Kherson on 17-18 July and Odessa on 20-21 July, are part of an ITC project called “Linking Ukrainian SMEs in the Fruits and Vegetables Sector to Global and Domestic Markets and Value Chains”. The project aims to enable small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that produce and process fresh fruits and vegetables in the regions of Kherson, Mykolaiv and Odessa to increase their competitiveness and integrate into national and regional value chains, with a focus on markets in the European Union.

The two July workshops, conducted by experts affiliated with ITC and the Kherson Chamber of Commerce and Industry, familiarized representatives from over a dozen agri-food producing and processing enterprises with how to use ITC’s market analysis tools to apply them in their activities.

In Kherson, the training was conducted by the representative of the Export Promotion Support Center of Kherson Chamber of Commerce&Industry Anna Syrchina. The same training for Odesa businessmen was conducted by ITC’s National consultant Alexei Yerokhin.

Representatives of production and processing enterprises took part in the trainings: “Vladam”, “Intersklad”, “Nash produkt”, “Pani Kristina”, “Bon Kherson”, “Rozdolne”, “Ararat +”, “Pochatok”, “Centr rozvytku sela” and others.

The training continued for two days and was aimed at the theoretical and practical application of market analysis tools. On the first day the training participants worked with the Trade Map. It’s an online open source platform which provides trade statistics and market access information for export development. Trade Map contains a large amount of data in a convenient format. Trade Map provides indicators on export performance, international demand, alternative markets and the role of competitors. Trade Map covers yearly trade data for 220 countries and territories and all 5,300 products of the Harmonized System.

Participants created their own account on the Trade Map site, get acquainted with the main parts and functionality of the site. Also, the students performed practical tasks in searching and analyzing of export statistics of different countries and goods.

During the second day of the training, the participants worked with the Market Access Map tool. This platform provides information on applied customs tariffs including MFN tariffs and preferences granted unilaterally and in the framework of regional and bilateral trade agreements. Users can find ad valorem equivalents (AVEs) for non-ad valorem duties in order to compare tariffs across countries and simulate tariff reduction scenarios.

The application also covers tariff rate quotas, trade remedies, rules of origin as well as the corresponding certificates, bound tariffs of WTO members, non-tariff measures (NTMs) and trade flows to help users prioritize and analyze export markets as well as prepare for market access negotiations.

After training participants left short responses. Representatives of production and processing enterprises said the training was useful and they got information for further work.

“All was good and informative. I liked the atmosphere and material. Anna Syrchyna is a very good trainer. She always ready to consult and help participants. I’ll try to use ITC’s market analysis tools in my activity”, said Eduard Kerimov from the company “Intersklad”.