Ukraine seeks to make Philippines a top three Asean trade partner

MANILA, Philippines, June 2 ------ Ukraine is pushing to lift its bilateral trade volume with the Philippines, which remains modest when compared to its other Southeast Asian trading partners, while also pushing to connect more businesses between Manila and Kyiv.

In a media roundtable, Ukrainian Ambassador to the Philippines Yuliia Fediv said bilateral trade stood at just over $60 million at the end of 2025, a level she described as “not that high” compared with other Southeast Asian markets.

This places the Philippines behind Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore and Vietnam in terms of trade with Ukraine. “For us, it’s important to move the Philippines into the first three because the potential is there, the interest is there,” Fediv told reporters. “I hope that in three years, we can already talk about hundreds of millions in trade, and not only in agriculture and electronics.”

Trade between the two countries currently favors the Philippines, accounting for about 70 percent of shipments. Philippine exports to Ukraine consist largely of processed food products such as banana chips and small electronics, while Ukraine exports agricultural products including wheat flour, soybean products, sunflower oil and pharmaceuticals.

Fediv attributed the relatively low level of trade partly to the late establishment of Ukraine’s embassy in Manila, which only opened in December 2024. Unlike in several neighboring Southeast Asian markets, Ukraine currently has no major businesses operating in the Philippines, she said, while Philippine companies also have yet to establish a presence in Ukraine.

Source: inquirer.net