Introduction. The intensification of globalization processes that characterize the beginning of the new millennium has led to the emergence of supranational structures of regional and global scope. The deepening of Ukraine's integration into the international trading space causes new opportunities and threats. The relatively large size of the territory of Ukraine as a European state and its administrative structure causes a number of differences in the socio-economic development of its regions. Identifying regional differences in foreign trade in agri-food products and their causes is an urgent task of the study, given the leading role of the agro-industrial sector in Ukraine's foreign trade.
The aim of the study is to identify regional differences of foreign trade in agri-food products and identify their causes.
Results of work. The analysis results of foreign trade in agro-food products on the average for 2016-2018 by regions are given. It is determined that the four leading export regions are Mykolaiv, Odesa, Kyiv and Vinnytsia, as they account for about 47,9 %. The regions were evaluated according to the following indicators: the volume of regional exports, the volume of production of cereals and legumes, the production of sunflower seeds. According to the results of the analysis, each region was assigned a corresponding rank, on the basis of the values of which the correlation coefficients of the regions ranks were calculated. It is determined that there is a close link between the region's place in the national agri-food export ratings and the production of cereals and legumes; and there is a median link between the region's place in the national agri-food export and sunflower seed ratings. Imports of agro-food products by regions are considered, where Kiev region is the absolute leader, which together with Odessa, Lviv and Dnipropetrovsk regions have 64.5 % of all corresponding imports. The analysis of agro-food products import by groups of goods is presented. The regions ranking by import volumes of agri-food products and disposable income per person has been done. The obtained coefficient of correlation of ranks testifies to the average degree of relation close to high.
Conclusions. It is proved that the differences in the volumes of crop production mainly cereals, legumes and sunflower are the basis for regional differentiation of agricultural food exports, which testifies to the raw nature of exports, stagnation of livestock and unsatisfactory development of the domestic food industry. Differentiation of imports of agro-industrial products is caused by the difference in income of the population by regions.
Keywords: agro-food products, export, import, balance, production, raw materials, processing, disposable income.