In March, Ukraine’s agricultural exports totaled 5.4 million tons worth $2.1 billion, with the share of agricultural products accounting for 58% of the country’s total exports of $3.6 billion, with corn and sunflower oil being the key items, the Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food reported on Telegram.
According to the report, the top 5 categories of Ukrainian agricultural exports include corn – $514 million (2.4 million tons), sunflower oil – $503 million (441 thousand tons), wheat – $254 million (1.1 million tons), soybeans – $150 million (370 thousand tons), and poultry meat – $95 million (41 thousand tons).
The minister emphasized that compared to last year’s March, the value of exports increased by $87 million (+4%). This became possible due to the continued strong position of more marginal products (sunflower oil, soybeans, poultry) in the export structure and the overall growth of prices for agricultural products.
“The agricultural sector remains the backbone of the Ukrainian economy, providing more than half of the country’s foreign exchange earnings in times of war. Our producers continue to demonstrate competitiveness in the global market, and the Ministry is consistently working to diversify markets and expand the export potential of the processing industry,” Koval said.
According to him, the average export prices for basic commodities in March 2025 per ton were as follows: corn – $215, sunflower oil – $1,141, wheat – $225, soybeans – $407, poultry – $2,300. This price environment on world markets contributed to an increase in the value of Ukrainian agricultural exports.
At the same time, there has been an increase in exports of certain types of processed foods. In particular, exports of bakery products increased by 24% compared to March 2014 to $29.5 million (+$7.7 million), butter – by 254% to $9.87 million (+$7.3 million), and cheese – by 32% to $5.3 million (+$1.4 million).
The main trading partners in March were Turkey ($270.8 mln), Italy ($171.1 mln), Spain ($170.4 mln), Egypt ($162.4 mln) and the Netherlands ($121.6 mln).
In January-March 2025, Ukrainian metallurgical enterprises increased pig iron production by 7.2% year-on-year to 1.702 million tons. This was reported by Ukrmetallurgprom.
In March of this year, the company produced 563.2 thousand tons of pig iron, while in February it produced 544.4 thousand tons.
For comparison: In 2024, Ukraine smelted 7.090 million tons of pig iron (+18.1% compared to 2023), and in 2023 – 6.003 million tons (-6.1% compared to 2022). In 2021, the volume was 21.165 million tons.
The Experts Club Information and Analytical Center has recently presented a video analysis of the top 20 steel producing countries – https://youtube.com/shorts/j7Yev2HCS4o?si=lfmGJ5jrx8036z1U
In January-March 2025, Ukraine imported $18.5 billion worth of goods and exported $9.9 billion, according to the State Customs Service of Ukraine. At the same time, taxed imports amounted to $13.9 billion, which is 75% of the total volume of imported goods.
The tax burden per 1 kg of taxed imports in January-March 2025 amounted to $0.50/kg. Countries from which Ukraine imported the most goods: China – $3.9 billion, Poland – $1.7 billion, and Germany – $1.5 billion.
Ukraine exported the most to Poland – by $1.1 billion, Italy – by $680 million, and Spain – by $650 million.
The following categories of goods accounted for 68% of the total volume of goods imported in January-March 2025
– machinery, equipment and transport – $6.8 billion
UAH 42.3 billion was paid to the budget during the customs clearance of these goods, which is 27% of customs revenues
– chemical products – $3.2 billion
UAH 25.5 billion was paid to the budget during the customs clearance of these goods, which is 16% of customs revenues;
– fuel and energy – $2.5 billion
UAH 43.6 billion was paid to the budget during customs clearance of these goods, which is 28% of customs revenues.
The top three most exported goods from Ukraine are:
– food products – $5.8 billion
– Metals and metal products – $1.1 billion
– machinery, equipment and transport – $882 million
In the first 3 months of 2025, UAH 81.2 million was paid to the budget during customs clearance of exports of goods subject to export duties.
In the period from 2022 to January-March 2025, Moldova imported 99.22% of soybeans from Ukraine, which supplied 56.64 thsd tonnes of the total imports of 57.08 thsd tonnes, according to the Moldovan online resource agroexpert.md.
According to the report, the total trade turnover for the analyzed period amounted to 71.42 thsd tonnes, including 79.9% of imports and 20.1% of exports of domestic beans.
Ukraine was the leader in the supply of soybeans throughout the analyzed period. In 2022, it accounted for 99.99% of imports (14.84 thsd tonnes), in 2023 – 97.19% (10.08 thsd tonnes), in 2024 – 99.50% (30.20 thsd tonnes), and in the first quarter of 2025 – 9%.
Other importing countries had a much smaller share. Thus, Germany ranked second with a share of 0.39% of total imports (0.22 thousand tons), with all imports from this country in 2023. Romania is on the third place with the share of 0.26% (0.15 thsd tonnes), the main volume of imports from this country was in 2024.
At the same time, Moldova exported soybeans to 10 countries in 2022-January-March 2025 and totaled 14.34 thsd tonnes.
The State Property Fund of Ukraine (SPFU) has called on the National Agrarian Academy of Sciences (NAAS) to be transparent and engage in dialogue and insists on providing information on 1736 land plots with a total area of 135,000 hectares and their actual use for scientific purposes, the agency reported on Facebook.
“There is no “seizure” of land. We are talking only about the transfer of part of the land that is not used or is used inefficiently to the state enterprise “Reserve” for transparent management. These lands are not being sold, privatized or withdrawn from state ownership,” the SPF emphasized.
At the same time, the Fund reminded that the State Enterprise “Reserve” is the second operator of the Land Bank project, which was created to effectively transfer state land for use on a competitive basis through the Prozorro.Sale system. Its creation is envisaged by the state strategy, as the State Land Bank LLC cannot obtain such land for permanent use – according to the law, only a state-owned enterprise can do so. In the future, the State Enterprise “Reserve” will be merged with similar structures into a single state land bank.
The SPF noted that they do not intend to withdraw land plots from the National Academy of Agrarian Sciences that are actually used for field research, breeding, livestock production or training. It is also not about land plots owned by educational institutions, but only about land used by the National Academy of Sciences, but without confirmation of their scientific purpose.
The SPF emphasized that productivity does not mean hectares, but results, and cited as an example the UAH 3.4 billion received by the National Academy of Agrarian Sciences in 2024 from 276 thousand hectares of land used by the academy.
“This is several times lower than the indicators of an efficient private sector. At the same time, most of the profits are generated not through science, but through commercial farming, which sometimes has nothing to do with research,” the State Property Fund emphasized.
He reminded that land is a national resource and it should work in the interests of the state, especially in times of war when the budget needs financial revenues.
“We cannot afford to keep thousands of hectares for ‘scientific needs’ that are not supported by objective activity,” the SPF emphasized and called on the National Academy of Sciences to be transparent and engage in dialogue.
The SPF analyzed the NAAS lands and identified 1736 plots with a total area of 135 thousand hectares for transfer to the Land Bank. Another 69 thousand hectares have real estate or are unsuitable for investment. This data was submitted to the National Academy of Agrarian Sciences in May 2024 for clarification. However, in 10 months, only one response was received from the NAAS – on the transfer of 65 thousand hectares, of which 50 thousand hectares are under occupation, and 7 thousand hectares are actually suitable.
Due to the NAAS’s refusal to cooperate constructively, the SPF decided to include all plots without real estate in the Land Bank project to stop the shadow use of land that does not benefit the state. The NAAS should provide a clear and reasoned list of enterprises and plots that they really need. The Foundation called the NAAS’s opposition an attempt to maintain control over abandoned assets under the slogan “science and development.”
“Our goal is to make state land a source of budget revenues, job creation, support for the army and reforms. We are building a new institution for managing Ukraine’s strategic resources – orderly, accountable and open,” the SPF summarized and called on the National Academy of Sciences to share this state approach.
In January-March this year, Ukraine increased its exports of ferroalloys in physical terms by 40.3 times compared to the same period last year, up to 27.678 thousand tons from 687 tons.
According to statistics released by the State Customs Service (SCS) on Tuesday, exports of ferroalloys increased 12.2 times in monetary terms to $29.540 million.
The main exports were to Algeria (35.15% of supplies in monetary terms), Poland (33.63%) and Italy (12.66%).
In addition, Ukraine imported 10.990 thousand tons of these products in 3 months of 2025, a decrease of 58.2% compared to the first quarter of 2024. In monetary terms, imports fell by 53.2% to $19.383 million. Imports were carried out mainly from Norway (23.64%), Georgia (17.05%) and Kazakhstan (15.10%).
As reported, Pokrovsky Mining and Processing Plant (PGOK, formerly Ordzhonikidze Mining and Processing Plant) and Marganetsky Mining and Processing Plant (MGOK, both in Dnipropetrovska oblast), both part of Privat Group, stopped mining and processing of crude manganese ore in late October and early November 2023, while NFP and ZFP stopped smelting ferroalloys. In the summer of 2024, ferroalloy plants resumed production at a minimal level.
In 2024, Ukraine reduced exports of ferroalloys in physical terms by 4.45 times compared to 2023 – to 77.316 thousand tons from 344.173 thousand tons, while in monetary terms, exports decreased by 3.4 times – to $88.631 million from $297.595 million. The main exports were to Poland (27.40% of supplies in monetary terms), Turkey (21.53%) and Italy (19.82%).
In addition, last year Ukraine imported 82.259 thousand tons of these products compared to 14.203 thousand tons in 2023 (an increase of 5.8 times). In monetary terms, imports increased by 3.3 times to $140.752 million from $42.927 million. Imports were carried out mainly from Poland (32.71%), Norway (19.55%) and Kazakhstan (13.90%).
Prior to the nationalization of the financial institution, PrivatBank organized the business of ZZF, NZF, Stakhanovsky ZF (which is on the NKT), Pokrovske and Marganetske GOKs. Nikopol Ferroalloy Plant is controlled by EastOne Group, created in the fall of 2007 as a result of the restructuring of Interpipe Group, and Privat Group.
