Ukraine's trade deficit in the first 11 months of 2011 increased 59.9 percent year-on-year to 12.76 billion U.S. dollars as imports outpaced exports in the former Soviet republic, the State Statistics Committee said Friday.

During the period, total foreign trade volume topped 136.66 billion dollars. The export volume was up 34.3 percent, reaching 61.95 billion dollars, while the import volume rose 38.1 percent to reach 74.71 billion dollars.

Ukraine posted a trade deficit of 9.3 billion dollars in 2010, after the price for Russian gas was raised significantly and the Ukrainian government stopped grain exports due to poor harvest.