NNEGC Energoatom has received a license from Westinghouse to manufacture fuel rod shanks for nuclear fuel assemblies in Ukraine, the company said on Thursday.
Earlier, NNEGC completed the licensing of the production of heads for fuel cassettes.
“In 2025, we will start supplying both heads and shanks produced at the facilities of Energoatom, a Westinghouse company. That is, some of the elements required for the manufacture of fuel cassettes will be of Ukrainian production,” said NNEGC CEO Petro Kotin in the Energo Live program on the We-Ukraine TV channel.
As reported, cooperation between Energoatom and Westinghouse on the production of nuclear fuel began in the summer of 2018 when the American partner began qualifying one of NNEGC’s separate divisions as a supplier of fuel assemblies for the TVS-WR. In 2019-2020, work was organized to produce them for fuel assemblies of Westinghouse Electric Sweden.
In April 2022, the first batch of head components was manufactured and sent to Westinghouse for qualification.
In the summer of 2023, the Swedish regulator SSM granted an export license as part of the project to qualify NNEGC Energoatom as a supplier of nuclear fuel components manufactured in Ukraine using modern Western technologies.
The average annual temperature in Kyiv in 2024 was +11.4°C, which is 2.4°C higher than the climate norm, and 2024 was the warmest year in the capital since the observations were made, with 52 temperature records recorded, the Borys Sreznevsky Central Geophysical Laboratory reported.
“In 2024, the air temperature exceeded the long-term average in all its months. February and September were particularly notable, with the largest positive deviations – 5.2°C and 5.7°C, respectively,” the Sreznevsky Central Geophysical Laboratory said in a statement on its website on Thursday.
It is noted that the coldest day was January 9 – minus 15.8°C, the hottest – July 16, when the temperature in the shade reached plus 36.0°C.
In total, 52 temperature records were recorded in Kyiv in 2024, with the highest number of records in April – 13 and July – 14.
Precipitation amounted to 642 mm, which corresponds to 104% of the climate norm. However, they were distributed very unevenly over time – almost two monthly norms in April and June and only 23% and 36% of the long-term average in May and September.
According to the observations of the meteorological station of the Borys Sreznevsky Central Geophysical Observatory, the average monthly air temperature in Kyiv in December was 0.0°C, which is 1.8°C higher than the climatic norm. The coldest day in the capital was December 14, when the minimum temperature dropped to -9.8°C in the morning, and the warmest was December 19, when the maximum temperature reached +8.0°C in the afternoon.
In 2024, Ukraine managed to reduce the volume of the shadow tobacco market to 12.6% from 25.7%, Danylo Hetmantsev, Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Finance, Taxation and Customs Policy, said on Telegram.
“Thanks to joint work with law enforcement and tax authorities, we managed to reduce the volume of the shadow tobacco market from 25.7% to 12.6%,” he wrote.
Hetmantsev added that in June-December 2024, importers and manufacturers of tobacco products paid UAH 16.1 billion more in excise tax to the budget (+33.7%) than in the same period in 2023.
In June-October, manufacturers produced 2 billion more cigarettes than in the same period of 2023.
In addition, the development of the e-liquids market resulted in a 30-fold increase in the volume of ordered excise stamps in the third quarter compared to the first quarter of 2024.
As reported, in December 2024, the Verkhovna Rada adopted Bill No. 11090 on the revision of excise tax rates on tobacco products. The document provides for an equivalent increase in specific excise tax rates on cigarettes for tobacco, industrial tobacco substitutes and a reduction in their amount for tobacco-containing products for electric heating, as well as clarification of certain provisions of the administration of excise tax on tobacco products.
MP Yaroslav Zheleznyak (Holos faction) said that the adopted document was not signed by the President of Ukraine and was not published on the parliament’s website, which calls into question the revision of tobacco prices from January 1, 2025.
On January 1, the Law “On Agricultural Notes” came into force in Ukraine, which provides for the establishment of a separate Register of Agricultural Notes.
It is expected that the register will contain information on the issuance, content and change of details of agrarian notes, termination and encumbrance of agrarian notes, and the commencement of enforcement of obligations under agrarian notes on the basis of a special extract from the register.
The Registry, in turn, will ensure transparency, efficiency and convenience of operations with agricultural notes by automating the processes of forming the details of agricultural notes, making changes, issuing and terminating them. Automated work will simplify the interaction between agricultural producers, creditors, and investors.
In addition, the digitalization of processes in the Registry will reduce transaction costs associated with the issuance and termination of agricultural notes, making the instrument cheap and easy to use.
Oleksiy Yudin, Chairman of the Board of the National Depository of Ukraine (NDU), previously expressed confidence that the project would be an important step in building the digital infrastructure of the agricultural sector, help attract additional investment and ensure sustainable economic growth.
“This project is an important step for the digitalization of the capital market and the agricultural sector in Ukraine. The development of the Agricultural Notes Register will not only help strengthen our country’s position in the global agricultural market, but also create new opportunities for investors,” said Ruslan Magomedov, Chairman of the National Securities and Stock Market Commission.
The NSSM added that this decision is an important infrastructure element and a central component of the entire ecosystem of agricultural notes, without which the full implementation of the new instrument in the market is impossible.
As reported, in October 2024, the International Finance Corporation (IFC, a member of the World Bank Group) and the National Depository of Ukraine signed a grant agreement under which NDU will receive up to $300 thousand to create and implement an innovative Register of Agricultural Notes.
In 2024, the Ukrainian agricultural sector set a second historical record of $24.5 billion in foreign exchange earnings from the export of agricultural products, Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food Vitaliy Koval said in an interview with Ukrainian Radio.
“To summarize the 24th year, it brought us the second best result in terms of foreign exchange earnings from exports. We set the second historical record – the country received $24.5 billion from the export of agricultural products. This is a good indicator,” he said.
The Minister recalled that the best year in terms of foreign exchange earnings from agricultural exports was 2021, when the agricultural sector earned $27.7 billion due to a good harvest.
Koval noted that compared to 2023, the agricultural sector’s foreign exchange earnings from exports increased by more than $2 billion.
“I think 2024 was a year of resilience for the entire agricultural sector. Ukrainian agrarians withstood, persevered and proved to be the best. The fact that we harvested a good crop, 75 million tons of grains and oilseeds, despite the mined land and hostilities is a good result, given that the year was dry and we had to admit the loss of yields. But in general, Ukraine has not only resisted, but also increased its agricultural power,” the Minister of Agrarian Policy summarized.
In 2025, Ukraine exported goods worth $41.627 billion, up $5.44 billion, or 15%, compared to 2023, Deputy Minister of Economy and Trade Representative of Ukraine Taras Kachka said.
“In terms of weight, exports amounted to 131.179 million tons. This is 30.8 million tons more, which means an increase of 30.8%. Imports also increased by 8.6% to $69 billion,” he wrote on Facebook on Wednesday.
Kachka specified that imports of electricity increased by 333% to $669 million, batteries by 103% to $950 million, transformers by 108% to $596 million, and UAVs by 77% to $1.2 billion.
“The top imports are petroleum products ($6.8 billion) and “miscellaneous” ($4.5 billion), which are directly related to war and defense. So energy challenges and defense are the main drivers of imports. The drivers are not at all inelastic. A significant reduction in the trade deficit is directly related to the development of the defense industry and the restoration of energy infrastructure,” the trade representative emphasized.
Regarding exports, Kachka noted that due to the opening of navigation in ports, iron ore became the leader in terms of exports – 33.6 million tons, which is 89% more compared to 2023, and in monetary terms, the growth was 58% – up to $ 2.8 billion.
According to him, the second position in terms of volume was taken by corn – 29 million tons, which is 12.3% more than in 2023, but in monetary terms the increase was only 2.3%, up to $5.07 billion.
The Trade Representative emphasized that the situation is the opposite in poultry exports: in physical terms, it increased by only 5.6% to 448.4 thousand tons, but in monetary terms – by 20% to $961 million.
“Among the goods whose exports amounted to more than a billion dollars, I would like to emphasize cable products, whose exports increased by 60% to $1.27 billion,” added Kachka.
According to his data, the growth in export revenues for key metallurgical products was 52% for semi-finished products to $927 million, 38.9% for hot-rolled products to $809 million, 125% for pipes to $590 million, 6.1% for pig iron to $500 million and 19.3% for bars to $156 million.
“Confectionery is a certain indicator of the food processing industry’s performance. There is a 38% increase in revenue from chocolate ($264 million), 26.9% growth for biscuits ($269 million), 15.6% for candy without chocolate ($215 million),” the trade representative also wrote.
In timber processing, he drew attention to the fact that the export of boards (sawn timber) decreased in volume, but still remained above 1 million tons, and in revenue – by 1.2%, to $400.9 million, but glued plywood was exported by 95% more – $125.3 million.
“There are also good indicators in the consumer goods sector. Exports of suits, sets, jackets, trousers, overalls for men amounted to $99 million. This is 646% … more than in 2023. Exports of suits, sets, jackets, dresses, skirts for women amounted to $71.3 million, which is 114.2% growth,” Kachka wrote.
According to him, geographically, Ukrainian exports are becoming more and more EU-centric: exports to the EU grew by 5.9% to $24.7 billion. The top five EU members in terms of exports were Poland ($4.7 billion), Spain ($2.8 billion), Germany ($2.8 billion), the Netherlands ($1.98 billion), and Italy ($1.93 billion). At the same time, exports to Germany grew by 40.5%, while exports to Poland decreased by 1.1%, the trade representative said.
“In general, trade with Poland is declining, as Ukraine imported 6.8% less from it than in 2023. At the same time, Poland continues to be the leader in the supply of goods from the EU – $6.8 billion out of $34.3 billion of total imports from the EU,” Kachka stated.
He noted that trade with Turkey is also declining – by 7.2% in exports and 13.5% in imports.
According to him, imports from China are growing at a significant pace: last year they increased by 37.4% to $14.3 billion.
“And this is the main area of turbulence in our trade policy, because trade with China may undergo radical changes due to the expected measures of the new US administration, which will go viral and lead to the recalibration of tariff rates within the WTO. If the US states that it has the right to revise its tariff rates, Ukraine has even more rights to do so, as we joined the WTO on the basis of unfulfilled expectations of lowering tariffs by other WTO member states,” Kachka emphasized.
