Drones rank among top 10 imports in Ukraine, valued at $99 mln in January 2024

Photo: Ministry of Digital Transformation

Alvina Kaminska

In January 2024, drones became one of the top 10 imports for Ukraine, with a total value of $99 million. This accounted for 2% of all imports during that period.

The Center for Economic Strategy reported that.

It should be mentioned that $114 million worth of phones were brought into the country, comprising 2.2% of all imports.

They mention that the vast majority (in terms of value) of drones were imported from China, precisely 98%.

^{Photo: Center for Economic Strategy}

To put it in perspective, importing "unmanned aerial vehicles" only made up 0.7% of the total for 2023, which amounts to $441 million.

The share of Chinese imports increased to 21.4% from 16% in 2023. Meanwhile, the share of imports from the European Union fell below 50%.

Recently, the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine announced that more than 50% of the 1 million drones of Ukrainian production planned for this year have already been contracted.

For reference:

On December 19, during a press conference, the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, said that one million drones would be produced in Ukraine next year.

In addition to 1 million FPV drones, in 2024, more than 10,000 medium-range attack drones and more than 1,000 drones with a range of 1,000 km will be produced.

The Minister of Digital Transformation, Mykhailo Fedorov, reported that the Ukrainian drone manufacturing market is growing, with over 100 companies currently producing drones in the country.

Earlier, the head of Ukraine's Security Service announced that a unique marine surface drone, "Sea Baby," was produced in Ukraine. These drones are made in Ukraine, but the factories are situated underground.

The State Special Forces recently reported that they had ordered hundreds of domestically produced drones from Ukroboronprom. They will be ready by the end of the year.

In addition, according to the Minister of Strategic Industries, Oleksandr Kamyshin, Ukraine has established serial production of the domestic analog of Shakhed UAVs. Dozens of such drones can be produced in a month.

The engineers from Kryvyi Rih have developed domestic strike UAVs named Cobra, which are now being mass-produced with a flight range of up to 300 km.

It is worth adding that the construction of the Bayraktar drone production plant continues in Ukraine. It is planned to produce more than 100 units of drones every year.