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The article examines the current state of trade of agri-food products of Ukraine and the EU. It has been established that in recent years, the EU countries have become one of the most important importers of agricultural and food products, which is associated with the operation of the free trade zone. It has been established that export to EU countries is complicated by an extremely limited range of goods. The basis of export is only eight commodity items: poultry meat, natural honey, wheat, corn, soybeans, rapeseed, unrefined sunflower oil and oilseed meal, which account for 83.0 -84.9% of the total exports. There is a tendency for the main EU partners to increase imports of plant products only. In the analysis of the export commodity structure, the prevalence of agricultural products was established, but its share is gradually reduced with an increase in food production. A comparative analysis of the volume of exports and imports was carried out for the goods of the four product sections, respectively, with UKTVED. The study shows that imports of animal products and prepared food products significantly exceed exports, despite the fact that in recent years, Ukrainian exports have been dynamically developing for these products. At the same time, products of plant origin and fats and oils of animal and vegetable origin form a constantly growing positive balance, which determines the results as a whole. The surplus for the period 2013-2017. increased by 2.6 times. The main causes of the formation of a negative balance for certain product groups have been investigated. The paper emphasizes that the main way to achieve a positive balance should be a substantial increase in exports, and not just a reduction in imports. Based on the analysis, recommendations are presented for increasing the production and sales of products of certain product groups in the EU markets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]