Beyond Russian oil, China also increases appetite for Ukrainian wheat flour

China is expanding its agricultural trade with Ukraine with further opening of its wheat flour market, a move that underscores its pragmatism and balanced diplomacy as it also increases energy imports from Russia.On Monday, China’s ambassador to Ukraine, Ma Shengkun, signed a protocol with Ukrainian officials regarding inspection, quarantine and sanitary requirements for the export of Ukrainian wheat flour to China, the embassy in Kyiv said in a social media post .The agreement would broaden agricultural cooperation and enrich the “strategic partnership” between the two nations, the post quoted Ma as saying.Noting that the agricultural sectors of China and Ukraine were highly complementary, Ma said China was willing to strengthen cooperation, which had significant potential, to benefit the people of both countries.Ukraine’s deputy minister of economy, environment and agriculture, Iryna Ovcharenko, said China was Ukraine’s top trading partner and a critical destination for its agricultural exports.Ovcharenko expressed confidence that the protocol would drive growth in bilateral trade, adding that Kyiv was eager to continue increasing the variety of agricultural products exported to China.Serhii Tkachuk, head of the Ukraine-on-food-safety-and-consumer-protection" class="entity-link entity-organization" data-entity-id="101694" data-entity-type="organization">State Service of Ukraine on Food Safety and Consumer Protection, said in a statement posted on social media on Monday that the move was “not just about expanding export geography, but also about a qualitative transformation – a transition from a raw-material model to the export of finished goods”.