KIEV, May 16 (Xinhua) -- Agricultural trade between Ukraine and the European Union (EU) increased by 22 percent in the first quarter thanks to the bilateral free trade agreement (FTA) between the two, authorities said on Wednesday.

In the first three months of this year, agricultural trade totaled about 2.2 billion U.S. dollars, compared to 1.8 billion dollars a year earlier, Ukraine's Institute of Agrarian Economics said in a report.

Ukraine's imports from the EU recorded a 27 percent year-on-year jump to 669 million dollars, while exports were up 15 percent to 1.51 billion dollars, the report said.

Ukraine's top EU trading partners - Spain, the Netherlands, Italy, Poland, Germany and France - accounted for 72 percent of the total volume.

The latest quarterly figures represent a continued uptrend in agricultural trade between Ukraine and the EU since 2017 when it rose 30 percent to reach 8.1 billion dollars.

The two sides launched their FTA in January 2016, which is expected to gradually remove tariffs on over 90 percent of goods.