The elevators of the Agrotrade agricultural holding have already received more than 280 thsd tonnes of products in the season-2024-2025, which is 62% of the planned volumes, the company’s press service reported on Facebook.
According to the report, the elevators received more than 208 thsd tonnes of grain, almost 72 thsd tonnes of oilseeds, and about 17 thsd tonnes of other crops.
The agroholding cites difficulties in the labor market as one of the main challenges of the season.
“One of the problems we face is the shortage of technical specialists, including mechanics, electricians, and welders. To ensure uninterrupted operation, the company is actively recruiting new employees, including people of retirement age with relevant experience,” said Konstantin Vorona, Director of Agrotrade’s Production and Technical Department.
He noted that in the 2024-2025 marketing year, Agrotrade’s elevators are operating normally and steadily accepting both its own products and those of third-party agricultural producers.
The Agrotrade Group is a vertically integrated holding company with a full agro-industrial cycle (production, processing, storage and trade of agricultural products). It cultivates over 70 thousand hectares of land in Chernihiv, Sumy, Poltava and Kharkiv regions. The company’s main crops are sunflower, corn, winter wheat, soybeans and rapeseed. It has its own network of elevators with a one-time storage capacity of 570 thousand tons.
The group also produces hybrid seeds of corn and sunflower, barley, and winter wheat. In 2014, a seed plant with a capacity of 20 thousand tons of seeds per year was built on the basis of Kolos seed farm (Kharkiv region). In 2018, Agrotrade launched its own brand Agroseeds on the market.
The founder of Agrotrade is Vsevolod Kozhemiako.
On February 13, the Kyiv Commercial Court invalidated the decision of the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine (AMCU) to grant permission to CRH Ukraine B.V., a subsidiary of Irish CRH, to acquire the Dickergoff group of companies in Ukraine from Italian Buzzi, following a lawsuit filed by Kovalska Industrial and Construction Group LLC. This is stated in the decision in case 910/13150/24, which was reviewed byInterfax-Ukraine.
As reported, in the fall of 2024, CRH, the world’s leading manufacturer of building materials, after obtaining the AMCU’s approval, completed the acquisition of the Dickergoff group of companies in Ukraine from Buzzi for EUR 100 million.
According to the case file, the claims are based on the fact that the disputed decision of the AMC is illegal and unfounded due to incomplete clarification and proof of the circumstances relevant to the concentration case, as well as incomplete research of the ready-to-use concrete mixtures market by the defendant.
The decision also notes that CRH has already violated its obligations. One of them is the obligation to appoint, within 5 years from the date of the declared concentration, persons who do not hold positions in business entities related to CRH Ukraine B.V. in Ukraine as general and commercial directors, members of executive and supervisory bodies of PrJSC “Dickergoff cement Ukraine”. However, at the extraordinary general meeting of PrJSC “Dickergoff Cement Ukraine” on October 11, 2024, Mariusz Tomasz Bogacz, a member of the Supervisory Board of JSC “Podilsky Cement”, in which CRH Ukraine B.V. is a 100% participant, was elected as a member of the Supervisory Board.
The decision of the Commercial Court was made public on March 20, and Interfax-Ukraine requested a comment from CRH Ukraine B.V. on whether it is appealing the decision.
As reported, in September 2024, the AMCU allowed the subsidiary of Irish CRH, CRH Ukraine B.V. (Rotterdam, the Netherlands), to acquire shares in PrJSC Dickergoff Cement Ukraine, which will provide it with more than 50% of the votes in the supreme management body of the acquired asset, but subject to a number of obligations, including finding an independent investor for 25-28% of the shares. It is expected that this investor will be the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), as in December 2023 CRH signed a mandate letter with it on the joint acquisition of the assets of the Italian company Buzzi in Ukraine. The AMC has been considering CRH’s merger filing since September 2023.
In June 2023, the Italian cement producer Buzzi, listed by the National Agency for the Prevention of Corruption as an international war sponsor, reached an agreement through its subsidiary Dyckerhoff GmbH to sell part of its Eastern European business to the Irish CRH Group, including its Ukrainian assets in the form of two cement plants: “Volyn-Cement (Zdolbuniv, Rivne region) and Pivden-Cement (Olshanske, Mykolaiv region).
CRH has been operating in Ukraine since 1999. Since November 2021, its cement enterprises in Ukraine have been operating under the Cemark brand: Podilsky Cement JSC (Khmelnytsky region), Cement LLC (Odesa), and Mykolaivcement PrJSC (Lviv region).
CRH’s separate business in Ukraine is the production of concrete and reinforced concrete products. PoliBeton Energo’s Bila Tserkva concrete goods plant is a specialized enterprise that produces power transmission towers. PoliBeton’s concrete hub in the north of Odesa joined CRH in 2020.
CRH is the world’s leading building materials manufacturer and the largest in North America and Europe. It has 3,200 plants in 28 countries and employs about 71,000 people. The company is also represented in Asia. CRH American depositary shares are listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
The EU has agreed retaliatory duties on U.S. goods worth about EUR21 billion ($23.2 billion), Bloomberg reported.
“The European Union approved tariffs on U.S. goods worth about EUR21 billion ($23.2 billion) in response to the 25 percent duties that President Donald Trump imposed last month on steel and aluminum exports from the bloc,” Bloomberg reported Wednesday.
A majority of the 27 EU member states reportedly voted in favor of the sanctions on Wednesday, some of which will begin to take effect in mid-April. The tariffs will target politically sensitive U.S. states and will include products such as soybeans from Louisiana, the home state of House Speaker Mike Johnson, as well as diamonds, agricultural products, poultry and motorcycles.
“The European Commission, the bloc’s executive arm, said the countermeasures could be ended at any time ‘if the United States agrees to a fair and balanced negotiated outcome,’” the report said.
“The move intensifies the growing transatlantic trade war, as the USA has also applied a universal 20 percent tariff on almost all European exports, as well as a separate 25 percent duty on cars and some auto parts. Trump said he would announce additional tariffs on lumber, semiconductor chips and pharmaceutical products. All of Trump’s new tariffs hit EU goods worth about 380 billion euros,” Bloomberg noted.
The EU is reportedly facing duties of 25% on steel, aluminum and auto imports, as well as new broad duties of 20% on nearly all other goods under Trump’s policy of targeting countries he says impose high barriers to imports from the US.
The European Commission, which coordinates EU trade policy, on Monday proposed additional duties of mostly 25% on a range of imports from the US. The imports include motorcycles, poultry, fruit, timber, clothing and dental floss, according to the document seen by Reuters. They amounted to about EUR21 billion ($23 billion) last year, meaning that the EU’s retaliatory action will apply to goods worth less than EUR26 billion of metal exports from the EU that were hit by the US tariffs.
Agrane Agro Holding will plant more than 26 thou hectares of spring crops in the 2025 season, the company’s press service reported on Facebook.
According to the report, about 14 thou hectares will be allocated for corn, 12 thou hectares for sunflower and small areas for legumes and flax for diversification.
“Agrain Group operates on the principle that every drop of moisture is worth its weight in gold. We use modern technologies that help minimize water losses and create optimal conditions for germination and development of crops,” said Taras Kornienko, chief agronomist of the agricultural holding.
To preserve moisture, he said, the agroholding’s fields are harrowed and moisture sealed, Strip-Till technology is implemented, and drought-resistant hybrids are grown using flexible sowing dates.
Agrane added that the agroholding’s winter crops are in good condition due to timely fertilization and pest protection.
“Agrain is engaged in the cultivation and storage of grains and oilseeds, as well as livestock farming. Prior to the full-scale Russian invasion, the agricultural holding included 11 agricultural enterprises. It cultivated about 110,000 hectares in Zhytomyr, Kharkiv, Chernihiv, Odesa, and Cherkasy regions.
The holding is owned by SAS Investcompagnie (France).
According to the State Customs Service, in January-March 2025, Ukraine sharply increased imports of electric generating sets and rotating converters (UKTZED 8502) to $432.9 million, up 7.7 times compared to the same period in 2024.
In March, imports amounted to $88.2 million: this is 6.3 times higher than in March 2024, but 47% less than in February 2025.
Main suppliers:
– Czech Republic – $85.7 million (19.8%)
– USA – $77.3 million (17.85%)
– Austria – $58.7 million (15.87%)
For comparison, in 2024, imports of generators increased by 3.7% to $732.5 million. As a reminder, since July 2024, Ukraine has exempted the import of generators from VAT and customs duties.
The main manufacturers and brands of generators whose products are actively represented in Ukrainian imports are:
– Honda Power (Japan)
– Kohler (USA)
– SDMO (France)
– Geko (Germany)
– Endress (Germany)
– FG Wilson (UK)
– Tedom (Czech Republic)
Ukraine increased its production of total rolled products by 3.3% in January-March 2025 compared to the same period last year to 1.435 million tons, according to Ukrmetallurgprom.
In March, the company produced 478.4 thousand tons of rolled products, slightly higher than in February (476.9 thousand tons).
In 2024, the company produced 6.222 million tons of rolled products (+15.8% compared to 2023), 5.372 million tons (+0.4%) in 2023, and 19.079 million tons in 2021. In 2022, production decreased by more than 70%.
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
