Ukraine's agricultural maritime exports fell to around 6.11 million metric tons in March from around 6.38 million tons in February, agriculture ministry data showed on Tuesday.

The ministry gave no explanation for the decrease. Ukraine has traditionally exported around 95% of its agricultural cargo via its deep water Black Sea ports.

However, the UCAB Ukrainian farm business association in a statement on Monday linked the expected decline to Russian forces shelling southern Ukraine, which interrupted operations at seaports, and to Polish protesters blocking land exports.

The ministry data also showed that Ukraine's overall food exports decreased to 6.99 million tons in March from 7.34 million tons in February.

Corn dominated exports in March and in February.

The data showed that food exports by lorries also fell, to 136,978 tons last month versus 153,673 tons in February. Sunflower oil accounted for the bulk of shipments.

Food and metal products traditionally dominated Ukrainian exports before the Russian invasion in February 2022.

Economy Minister Yulia Svyrydenko wrote on X on Monday that Ukraine's overall exports by sea hit 11.8 million tons in March. She gave no comparison. (Reporting by Pavel Polityuk; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)