Production Exports Drop Threefold

The export of mechanical engineering products made at enterprises under the Ministry of Industrial Policies fell threefold in the first six months of 1999, falling to $71.967 million against $227.375 million in the first six months of 1998, UNIAN reports. The fall in export is mostly accounted for by shipbuilding ($3.257 million vs. $26.569 million last year), heavy machine building ($10.671 million vs. $65.655 million), the rocket and space complex ($22.7 million vs. $44.5 million), defense industry ($1.1 million vs. $2.9 million), and fuel resource production ($1,600 vs. $12,400 last year).

According to Viktor Lytvyn, deputy chief of the department for foreign economic relations and industrial potential promotion in the Ministry of Industrial Policies, the main causes of the export drop in the mechanical engineering sector are the lack of competitiveness of the national mechanical engineering products, scarcity of current assets, and dumping by rival countries. “There is also a problem of the general acceptability of our products,” Mr. Lytvyn noted. In his opinion, Ukrainian embassies and trade representations abroad should assume some blame for this.