In January-March this year, Ukrainian mining companies reduced exports of iron ore by 5.7% in physical terms compared to the same period last year, to 8 million 492.479 thousand tons.
According to the statistics released by the State Customs Service on Tuesday, foreign exchange earnings from iron ore exports decreased by 20.3% to $687.788 million during this period.
Exports of iron ore were carried out mainly to China (46.46% of supplies in monetary terms), Poland (16.05%) and Slovakia (16.14%).
In January-March 2025, Ukraine imported iron ore worth $24 thousand in the amount of 43 tons from Norway (54.17%) and Italy (45.83%), while in the same period last year it imported 245 tons worth $67 thousand.
As reported, in 2024, Ukraine increased its exports of iron ore by 89.8% compared to 2023 – up to 33 million 699.722 thousand tons, while foreign exchange earnings increased by 58.7% to UAH 2 billion 803.223 million.
In 2024, Ukraine imported iron ore for $414 thousand in a total volume of 2,042 thousand tons, while in 2023, 250 tons of this raw material were imported for $135 thousand.
In 2023, Ukraine decreased exports of iron ore in physical terms by 26% compared to 2022 – to 17 million 753.165 thousand tons, foreign exchange earnings from iron ore exports amounted to $1 billion 766.906 million (down 39.3%). In 2023, Ukraine imported iron ore worth $135 thousand in a total volume of 250 tons.
In January-March of this year, Ukraine’s steelmaking companies reduced their revenues from ferrous metal exports by 3.2% year-on-year to $728.686 million.
According to statistics released by the State Customs Service (SCS) on Tuesday, ferrous metals accounted for 7.32% of total export revenues during this period, compared to 7.48% in January-March 2024.
In March, export revenues amounted to $309.487 million, while in the previous month they amounted to $200.430 million.
At the same time, Ukraine increased imports of similar products by 12.7% to $363.674 million in January-March 2025. In March, products worth $135.509 million were imported.
In addition, in January-March 2025, Ukraine increased exports of metal products by 3.5% to $238.045 million. In March, they were exported for $93.423 million.
Imports of metal products decreased by 3.3% to $225.655 million over the same period. In March, these products were imported for $87.574 million.
As reported earlier, in 2024, Ukraine’s steelmaking companies increased revenues from ferrous metal exports by 16.9% year-on-year to $3 billion 96.343 million. At the same time, Ukraine increased imports of similar products by 13.1% last year to $1 billion 478.814 million.
In 2023, Ukraine reduced revenues from exports of ferrous metals by 41.6% compared to 2022, to $2 billion 647.72 million, with ferrous metals accounting for 7.3% of total revenues from exports of goods during this period, while in 2022 the share was 10.3%. At the same time, in 2023, Ukraine increased imports of similar products by 37% to $1 billion 307.05 million.
In addition, in 2023, Ukraine decreased exports of metal products by 16.6% year-on-year to $877.92 million, while imports of metal products increased by 40.3% to $902.57 million.
Oleksandr Sosis owns 99.9999% of the shares of PJSC Ukrainian Joint-Stock Insurance Company ASKA-Life (Kyiv), according to the insurer’s announcement in the information disclosure system of the National Securities and Stock Market Commission (NSSMC). As reported, according to the NSSMC, as of the end of 2024, 55.6667% of the company was owned by SCM Finance Limited, 44.3333% – by Alexander Sosis. At the same time, Sosis is the main shareholder of Alliance Bank (Kyiv) with a stake of 89.289%.
In October 2024, the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine (AMCU) granted him permission to acquire control over ASKA-Life.
On April 3, 2025, Anna Dugadko, a member of the Supervisory Board of ASKA-Life as a representative of SCM Finance Limited, was removed from the company’s Supervisory Board after the alienation of the beneficiary’s shares.
ASKA-Life Insurance Company was registered in 2003 and specializes in life insurance.
According to the NBU, in 2024, ASKA Life collected UAH 136.2 million in insurance premiums and made insurance payments of UAH 7.915 million. Its eligible assets amounted to UAH 215 million, and technical reserves amounted to UAH 121.145 million.
The authorized capital is UAH 49.625 million.
Vitagro Group is completing the construction of two new silos with a capacity of 11 thousand tons of simultaneous storage at its elevator in Izyaslav district, Khmelnytsky region, and is preparing a 15 thousand ton storage area in grain bins, the company’s press service reports.
According to the report, the total capacity of the elevator will increase to 66 thousand tons of simultaneous storage. The work is scheduled to be completed in early summer 2025 to store the new winter crop.
“We started working on the project in the fall of 2024. At the same time, we contracted equipment and planned the construction schedule. In total, approximately UAH 153 million will be spent on the first stage of the project. As part of the capacity increase, we will not only increase the storage volume but also add another working tower, which will allow us to accept two different crops at the same time and load grain in parallel on rail and road transport. At the same time, the shipment speed will increase from 1400 tons per day to 2300 tons per day,” explained Alexander Kulygin, Director of Grain Storage at Vitagro Group.
Vitagro reminded that it started developing the elevator business in 2017 with the construction of an elevator in Zakupne village, Kamianets-Podilskyi district, Khmelnytskyi region. The group now owns five elevators in Khmelnytsky and Rivne regions with a total capacity of 385 tons of simultaneous storage. The largest of them is in Zakupne. Its current capacity is 106 thousand tons.
Vitagro Group is one of the largest industrial groups in Ukraine with assets in the agricultural, energy, processing, construction and chemical industries. It was founded and has been operating since 1998. It owns enterprises in Khmelnytsky, Rivne, Volyn, Ivano-Frankivsk and Kyiv regions. The company cultivates about 90 thousand hectares of land and is engaged in livestock farming, horticulture, renewable energy, fertilizer and feed production, construction and building materials production. During the full-scale invasion, the group built and launched 5 processing plants. Vitagro is headquartered in Khmelnytsky.
According to the Unified State Register of Legal Entities and Individual Entrepreneurs, the ultimate beneficiary of the Vitagro investment company is MP Serhiy Labaziuk (For the Future parliamentary faction).
In 2024, coffee producer Galka PrJSC (Lviv) reduced its profit by 7.5% to UAH 2.7 million compared to 2023.
According to the decision of the shareholders’ meeting published in the information disclosure system of the National Securities and Stock Market Commission (NSSMC), it was decided to pay dividends in the amount of UAH 4,497,204, which is UAH 12.85 per ordinary registered share.
The Management Board was obliged to compile a list of persons entitled to receive dividends by April 23, 2025, and to pay dividends directly to shareholders within six months from the date of the general meeting’s decision to pay dividends by transferring them to shareholders’ bank accounts or, at their request, at the company’s cash desk.
“Pay the entire amount of dividends in full. To notify the persons entitled to receive dividends of the date, amount, procedure and term of their payment by posting a relevant notice on the company’s website,” the minutes of the general meeting read.
According to the Opendatabot service, in 2024, Galka slightly increased its revenue to UAH 5.274 million, which actually corresponds to the pre-war level of UAH 5.29 million in 2021. Debt obligations increased by 20.2% to UAH 504.2 thousand, while assets decreased by 6.6% to UAH 24.11 million.
Galka PrJSC was established in 1994 on the basis of a Lviv coffee factory that started its operations in 1932 as the Lviv Cooperative Factory of Coffee Additives “Suspilny Promyshl”. Since its inception, the company has specialized in the production of chicory and malt coffee “Luna”, as well as Prajin coffee substitutes. In 1971, the company installed Niro Atomizer equipment for the production of instant coffee, which Lviv Coffee Factory began exporting. The capacity of the Ukrainian-English manufacturer Galka is currently 120 thousand packs of coffee per day.
The major shareholders are Yaroslav Volynets (8.9%) and Lydia and Andriy Volynets (6.9% each), Natalia, Olga and Yuriy Dubovy (7.7% each), Roman and Volodymyr Pasternak (7.1% and 7.6%), Iryna Popovych (7.1%), and Galka Holding LLC (19.39%).
In January-February 2025, Ukraine produced 0.9 million tons of milk, which is 3.5% less than in the corresponding period of 2024, according to Infagro, an industry information and analytical agency.
In February, agricultural enterprises produced 1.7% more milk than in February 2024. Given that 2024 was a leap year, the annual growth in February was 5.3%, analysts said.
Experts emphasized that as of March 1, there were 1.15 million cows in Ukraine, which is 8.4% less than on the same date last year. Official figures for the number of cows in agricultural enterprises showed a negative annual trend with a slight decrease of 0.1% by March 1, 2024.
“In April, we can expect stabilization of the milk market due to the growth of overall demand, which means that the rate of decline in purchase prices will slow down, price revisions will become pointwise,” Infagro emphasized.
At the same time, in March 2025, the purchase price of raw milk in Ukraine continued to decline, with prices returning to approximately the level of September 2024. The March price correction was more severe than in February. Competition for raw materials has resumed due to the projected growth in promotional sales of dairy products in the domestic market and increased European demand for Ukrainian goods, especially butter.
Analysts noted that the supply of raw materials in the domestic market continues to grow. New production facilities and new projects in the dairy industry are being launched. Therefore, the pressure on the price of milk is still there.
The average cost of raw materials in March 2025 in agricultural enterprises was 16.6 UAH/kg excluding VAT, which is 5.1% lower than in February, but 15% higher than in March 2024; the cost of raw materials from the population was 10.5 UAH/kg excluding VAT, which is 4.1% lower than in February, but 14% higher than in March 2024.
The range of milk prices at the end of March was mainly from agricultural enterprises – 15.8-17.0 UAH/kg excluding VAT, and from households – 9.5-11.0 UAH/kg excluding VAT.
“The estimated margin of milk production continued to decline in March. The average estimated operating margin in March amounted to 15%, which is 7 points less than in February and 29 points lower than in March 2024,” Infagro summarized.
