Only by substantially increasing the processing of products with high added value, Ukraine will begin to catch up with more economically successful neighbors.
This was stated by the Director of State Enterprise “Ukrpromzovnishpekspertiza” Volodymyr Vlasyuk, reports ProAgro Group, referring to Ukrinform.
According to him, it is critically important for Ukraine to find the right solutions to close the abnormal gap with neighboring countries amid the challenges and rapid changes that are taking place in the global economy. One of the main mistakes that have led to this lag is growing and selling agricultural raw materials in conditions of limited in-house processing.
To illustrate, he reminded that the added value in selling one ton of wheat is at best $50. However, deep processing of grain guarantees $300 of added value. The country continues to export up to 75% of its grain crops every year. While in neighboring countries this figure does not exceed 4-5%. This is explained not only by the fact that our neighbors have a much smaller gross yield of grains than Ukraine. The main reason is provision of a complete processing cycle and export of finished high value-added products.
According to Vlasyuk’s estimates, this approach together with creation of hi-tech productions, which, among other things, will stimulate training of IT-specialists and attract them to the economy, will allow Ukraine to double its GDP in 10 years, bringing it to $300 billion.
