The demand for imports can create 600 processing enterprises in Ukraine with a production capacity of $90B.

According to Parliament Member Dmytro Kysylevsky, the volume of raw materials and the demand for goods in Ukraine make it reasonable to create approximately 600 processing enterprises in Ukraine. The total value of processing capacities necessary to produce goods for export and domestic consumption is estimated to be up to $90B.

According to Kysylevsky, the processing industry’s contribution to Ukraine’s GDP is catastrophically small. In 2022, it amounted to 8% against the OECD benchmark of 20%. “Only a change in the Ukrainian economy’s structure can solve the employment issue and significantly affect the population’s well-being,” he explained.

At the same time, there is no other way out of Ukraine’s employment troubles except to create jobs by restructuring the economy in the direction of the export-oriented processing industry. However, processing grains into flour, animal feed, or bioethanol is not the extent of this envisaged production. This increase in production would also fuel exports of technologies such as mechanical engineering, aerospace engineering, and the defense industry.