The purpose of the article is to highlight the place of agro-food products in commodity structure of exports and to substantiate proposals for more rational use of agrarian sector products and improvement of commodity structure of its exports with an advantage of ready-made food products with a bigger value added. Research methods. In the research process were used the following methods: dialectical methods of cognition of processes and phenomena; monographic method for analysis of scientific achievements of Ukrainian and foreign scientists regarding the state of foreign trade in agricultural and food products; graphic for determining the correlation of the dynamics of exports of cereals and oilseeds and their selling price; comparative analysis for substantiation of directions of products’ use of the agrarian sector with a bigger value added; empirical method for concerning a comprehensive assessment of the current state of foreign trade in agro-food products; abstract-logical for theoretical generalizations and formulation of conclusions. Research results. Analysis of the foreign trade dynamics showed an increase in foreign exchange earnings from agro-food products and an increase in their share in the total amount of exports with a high proportion of grain and seeds of oilseeds. In the export structure, grain and oilseeds are predominant. An inverse correlation was found between the export volumes of grain and seeds of oilseeds and their selling price, indicating the expediency of using grain and intermediate products of industrial processing for the animal production development and increasing the production and export of meat and dairy products. Elements of scientific novelty. There were systemized essential factors of increasing the export volumes of agro-food crop products, in particular: rapid production growth of grain and seeds of oilseeds; reducing use of grain for feed purposes due to the reduction of the livestock population, in particular cattle, over a long period of time; relatively small proportion of grain use for non-food purposes; slow increase in the grain processing for food purposes; restriction of innovative technologies for industrial storage of grain. It was found that increasing the export volume of grain and oilseeds in the absence of organization of rational directions of internal use leads to organizational and financial risks, lower prices and lack of proper revenues of the currency. There were justified proposals on commodity export structure of agrarian and food products, as well as directions and ways of its improvement, which at the state level include: - introduction of an incentive mechanism for accelerated investment in the commissioning of industrial capacities and innovative technologies for long-term storage and processing of agricultural products (including biological animals) for obtaining quality products with a bigger value added, which will reduce organizational and financial risks; - strengthening a joint responsibility of state authorities, business entitles and science for scientifically grounded land use and preservation and improvement of the soil quality, which should ensure the implementation of specialized crop rotation, increase of crop yields, consistently high gross harvest and increase of export. Herewith actions of objective laws of nature and society must be taken into account. Practical significance. Exports of agro-food products should be made mainly of products with a bigger value added, which will contribute to an increase in foreign exchange earnings from foreign trade operations. At the same time, it requires development on the new innovative basis of industrial enterprises for deep processing and long-term storage of agricultural products, its biological processing, which will enable to increase production and export of animal products with a bigger value added and create new jobs. Tabl.: 2. Figs.: 5. Refs.: 18
agro-food products; agrarian sector; commodity structure; export; raw material orientation; market; foreign trade; value added