In 2024, the commercial real estate market in Belgrade showed steady growth, driven by a robust economy and rising consumer demand. Experts predict that the trend will continue in 2025, especially in the central areas and New Belgrade.
Average rental rates (€/month):
The largest international chains choose the center and New Belgrade, while local businesses prefer Zemun and the surrounding area.
Belgrade continues to strengthen its position as a promising site for commercial real estate investment.
Source: https://t.me/relocationrs/580
Ukrstal Dnipro Steel Structures Plant PJSC reduced its net profit by 9.7 times year-on-year in 2024 to UAH 7.342 million from UAH 70.924 million.
According to the company’s announcement in the NSSMC’s information disclosure system, the company’s shareholders’ meeting scheduled for April 7, 2025 proposes to allocate the net profit of UAH 7.342 million generated by the company’s financial and economic activities in 2024 to cover losses of previous periods.
According to the agenda, the shareholders will also, in particular, consider the reports of the Supervisory Board and the auditor for the past year, and approve the results of financial and economic activities.
Ukrstal Dnipro Steel Structures Plant is the legal successor of PJSC Babushkin Dnipro Steel Structures Plant (the name was changed in April 2017). The company’s core business is the production of building steel structures and their parts.
According to the third quarter of 2024, Closed Non-Diversified Venture Corporate Investment Fund RIFT (Ukraine) owns 92.9947% of the shares of PJSC “Ukrstal Dnipro Metal Structures Plant”, Fercon Ltd (Ukraine) owns 6.3537%.
The authorized capital is UAH 355.208 million, with a share par value of UAH 0.25.
Polling stations have opened in Greenland, where elections to the local parliament are taking place on Tuesday, the Associated Press reports. Approximately 41 thousand residents of the island are eligible to vote.
The voters will have to choose from several parties, the favorites of which are two – the left-wing socialist Inuit Atakatigiiit (Eskimo Union), which is currently in power, and the social democratic Siumut (Forward).
In addition to them, representatives of the liberal Demokraatit (“Democrats”) party, the centrist Nalerak (“Aspiration”) party, which supports the island’s independence, and the liberal conservatives from the Atassut (“Solidarity”) party are competing for seats in the local parliament.
According to the BBC, a coalition of the Inuit Atakatigiit and Siumut parties currently controls the majority in parliament – 21 out of 31 seats. Both are in favor of independence, but the largest Inuit Atakatigiiit is in no hurry to hold a referendum, while Siumut promises to hold one in the next four years.
The announcement of the initial election results will begin immediately after the polls close, but the situation may be complicated by weather conditions, as a large part of the island is located in the Arctic zone. The time of the announcement of the final election results will also depend on this.
Observers note that the results of these elections should also reveal which way the island’s residents prefer: to remain a self-governing territory of Denmark, to choose a direction towards independence, or to listen to the statements of US President Donald Trump, who suggested that the Danish authorities buy Greenland.
The results of recent pre-election polls conducted by the Verian research company and regional media show that 85% of voters oppose becoming part of the United States, 6% are in favor, and 9% are undecided.
In addition, 60% of respondents are in favor of Greenland’s possible accession to the EU; 40% share the opposite opinion. The same results were shown in the 2021 survey. However, compared to 2021, the percentage of those who support parties that advocate independence from Denmark has now decreased from 80% to 69%.
Earlier, the Experts Club think tank and Maksim Urakin released a video analysis on the most important elections in the world in 2025 – https://youtu.be/u1NMbFCCRx0?si=AOtHGDT1kGNdZd2g
An outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease has been reported in Hungary, which has led to emergency measures in a number of countries. The authorities of the UK, Russia and Ukraine have already announced restrictions on imports of animals and animal products from Hungary to prevent the spread of the dangerous virus.
Today, Ukraine has imposed a ban on the import of animals susceptible to the foot-and-mouth disease virus, as well as raw materials and animal products from such animals. The State Service of Ukraine for Food Safety and Consumer Protection (SSUFSCP) explained that the measures were taken to avoid the introduction of the virus into the country. According to the agency, the source of infection can be not only infected animals, but also those in the incubation period. In addition, the virus is transmitted through products obtained from infected animals.
The competent authorities in each country continue to monitor the epizootic situation and are ready to introduce additional measures if necessary.
Foot-and-mouth disease is a highly contagious viral disease that affects farm animals such as cattle, pigs, sheep and goats. It is characterized by the appearance of ulcers and blisters in the mouth, hooves and udders of animals, accompanied by fever and a sharp decline in productivity.
The disease is spread by airborne droplets, through feed, water, clothing and equipment, and can also be transmitted through animal products. Although foot-and-mouth disease is rarely transmitted to humans, it causes significant damage to agriculture, leading to massive livestock losses, strict quarantine measures, and serious economic losses. Due to the high contagiousness of the disease, international veterinary services closely monitor outbreaks and take strict measures to prevent its spread.
As of January 31, 2025, 4 million 285.61 thousand non-EU citizens who fled Ukraine as a result of the full-scale Russian invasion had temporary protection status in the EU, an increase of 25.53 thousand in January compared to 25.59 thousand in December, Eurostat reports.
“The largest absolute increase in the number of beneficiaries was observed in Germany (+8,800; +0.8%), the Czech Republic (+6,4360; +1.6%) and Spain (+3,050; +1.3%),” the agency said.
It is noted that the number of people under temporary protection in January decreased in Denmark (-2,245; -6.1%), France (-660; -1.1%), Austria (-420; -0.5%) and Lithuania (-155, -0.3%).
According to Eurostat, Germany remains the country with the largest number of refugees from Ukraine in the EU and the world by a growing margin – 1 million 170.25 thousand at the end of 2024, or 27.3% of the total number of beneficiaries in the EU.
The top three also includes Poland – 993.02 thousand, or 23.2%, and the Czech Republic – 394.99 thousand, or 9.2%.
They are followed by Spain (229.67 thousand) and Romania (181.9 thousand) with a significant lag.
There is no data for January for Italy and Portugal, where at the end of 2024 there were 163.10 thousand and 65.29 thousand refugees with this status, respectively. In recent months, Eurostat has also clarified that the data for Spain, Greece, and Cyprus take into account some people whose temporary protection status is no longer valid.
According to the agency, compared to the population of each EU member state, the largest number of temporary protection beneficiaries per thousand people at the end of January 2025 was observed in the Czech Republic (36.2), Poland (27.1) and Estonia (26.0), while the corresponding figure at the EU level is 9.5.
It is also said that as of the end of 2024, Ukrainian citizens accounted for more than 98.4% of the beneficiaries of temporary protection. Adult women accounted for almost half (44.8%) of temporary protection beneficiaries in the EU, children for almost a third (31.8%), while adult men accounted for less than a quarter (23.4%) of the total. A year earlier, the share of women was 46.1%, children – 33.2% and adult men – 20.7%.
More than 100 thousand people with temporary protection status at the end of January 2025 were also in Slovakia – 132.64 thousand, the Netherlands – 122.21 thousand and Ireland – 110.58 thousand.
Between 50 thousand and 100 thousand of them were in Belgium – 88.29 thousand, Austria – 85.14 thousand, Norway – 79.56 thousand, Finland – 69.98 thousand, Bulgaria – 70.34 thousand, Switzerland – 68.40 thousand and France – 57.87 thousand (data on children are mostly not included – Eurostat).
This is followed by Latvia – 48.54 thousand people, Lithuania – 48.10 thousand, Sweden – 47.02 thousand, Hungary – 39.33 thousand, Estonia – 35.72 thousand, Denmark – 34.68 thousand, Greece – 32.81 thousand, Croatia – 26.15 thousand, Cyprus – 22.46 thousand, Luxembourg – 3.94 thousand, Iceland – 3.91 thousand, Malta – 2.24 thousand and Liechtenstein – 0.71 thousand.
Eurostat clarified that all the above data relate to the granting of temporary protection on the basis of EU Council Decision 2022/382 of March 4, 2022, which establishes the existence of a massive influx of displaced persons from Ukraine due to Russia’s military invasion and entails the introduction of temporary protection. On June 25, 2024, the European Council decided to extend temporary protection for these persons from March 4, 2025 to March 4, 2026.
According to updated UNHCR data, the number of Ukrainian refugees in Europe as of February 19, 2025, was estimated at 6.346 million, and 6.907 million worldwide, which is 43 thousand more than on January 16.
In Ukraine itself, according to the latest UN data, 3.665 million internally displaced persons (IDPs), including approximately 160,000 people, were displaced from the frontline areas in the east and south between May and October 2024 due to the intensification of hostilities.
As Deputy Economy Minister Serhiy Sobolev noted in early March 2023, the return of every 100,000 Ukrainians home results in a 0.5% increase in GDP. In its January inflation report, the National Bank estimated the outflow from Ukraine in 2024 at 0.5 million (0.315 million according to the State Border Guard Service). The NBU also maintained its forecast of outflows in 2025 at 0.2 million.
Metal structures have great potential in reconstruction projects and will help speed up the process, Andriy Ozeychuk, Rauta director and chairman of the board of directors of the Ukrainian Steel Construction Center, told Interfax-Ukraine.
“Metal structures have a great potential for use in restoring infrastructure facilities, especially bridges, and protecting the energy sector,” Ozeychuk said.
According to him, partnerships with international companies will help to promote the development of the Ukrainian construction sector, and government orders can also stimulate the market.
“Ukrainian steel producers can be engaged by foreign companies looking for local producers to implement construction projects, as steel is the preferred material for construction in most EU countries,” he explained.
Programs to modernize logistics hubs, warehouses, and industrial zones, as well as the active construction of modular housing and social facilities using steel solutions, can also significantly increase the volume of the steel structures market. Businesses are ready to offer innovative products for such renovation projects, the EBA head emphasized.
In particular, the technology of frameless sandwich panel buildings, for which Rauta received a patent in 2024, allows for the construction of energy-efficient buildings in a matter of days. This solution can be used for the construction of individual residential buildings, prefabricated cold rooms and cold warehouses, as well as other one-story residential and commercial buildings, Ozeychuk said.
Rauta’s comprehensive airtightness solution allows building owners to save up to 30% on their operating costs. The technology is based on the use of Ruukki sandwich panels of the Energy series and takes into account all possible elements to ensure the airtightness of the structure.
In 2023, Rauta developed a technology for the construction of walls of multi-storey residential buildings using sandwich panels instead of masonry made of artificial materials, which allows to increase the area of sold premises by 4.5%, resulting in approximately 11% additional profit for the developer, the expert explained.
