Astarta, the largest sugar producer in Ukraine, has completed the processing season of 2024, which lasted 133 days and was marked by a number of records, the company’s press service reports on its Facebook page.
“Astarta’s five sugar factories produced 380 thousand tons of sugar, which is the highest figure in the holding over the past seven years. In total, the companies processed more than 2.5 million tons of sugar beet grown on the fields of the agro-industrial holding and by our partners, agricultural producers,” the statement said.
Despite the difficulties with the quality of raw materials caused by abnormal weather conditions, the holding’s sugar yield was 14.96% (the average value in Ukraine was 14.06% as of January 01, 2025). According to the National Association of Sugar Producers of Ukraine, this is the best industry indicator in the 2024 processing season.
“An important event of the season was the commissioning of a new sugar storage silo with a capacity of 60 thousand tons. This will significantly improve the quality of sugar storage and optimize logistics,” Astarta added.
“Astarta is a vertically integrated agro-industrial holding company operating in eight regions of Ukraine. It comprises six sugar factories, agricultural enterprises with a land bank of 220 thousand hectares and dairy farms with 22 thousand cattle, an oil extraction plant in Globyno (Poltava region), seven elevators and a biogas complex.
In 2023, the agricultural holding reduced its net profit by 5.0% to EUR 61.9 million, and its EBITDA decreased by 6.1% to EUR 145.77 million, while revenue increased by 21.3% to EUR 618.93 million.
The ruling coalition in Romania has decided on the date of the new presidential elections, which will be held in Romania on May 4 and May 18, Reuters reports, citing sources in the Liberal Party of Romania.
According to the coalition parties, they have agreed to support a single presidential candidate to prevent the far-right from winning, and today their candidate is Crin Antonescu, the former leader of the Liberals, but experts suggest that another candidate from the ruling coalition may be nominated.
According to Politico, despite the cancellation of the results of the previous elections, pro-Russian candidate Kelin Georgescu remains popular in Romania, as evidenced by a poll conducted by Digi 24 at the request of Bucharest Mayor Nicusor Dan, who also plans to run for president of Romania as an independent candidate in the re-election. The poll showed that at least 40 percent of Romanians plan to vote for Dănăsca, Dan told Digi24, without specifying how many people were interviewed.
On Wednesday, Elena Lascone, the leader of the liberal progressive party “Union for the Salvation of Romania”, which came in second in the previous elections with 19.18% of the vote, promised to run again.
As reported, in December 2024, the Romanian Supreme Court overturned the results of the first round of the November 24 presidential election due to allegations of foreign interference after the victory of pro-Russian candidate Kelin Georgescu.
Earlier, the Experts Club think tank released a video about the most important elections in the world, the video is available here – https://youtu.be/73DB0GbJy4M?si=zWf7UqPASklCy5nr
Prices for raw milk in Ukraine declined in early January due to a decrease in demand from dairy processing companies during the New Year holidays, the Association of Milk Producers (AMP) reported.
The industry association noted that the average purchase price of extra milk as of January 6 was 19.10 UAH/kg excluding VAT, which is 0.60 UAH less than a month earlier, while the price of premium milk was 18.35 UAH/kg excluding VAT (-0.35 UAH), and the price of first grade remained unchanged at 17.65 UAH/kg excluding VAT. The weighted average price of the three milk grades was fixed at 18.37 UAH/kg excluding VAT, which is 0.32 UAH less than in December.
“The decline in raw milk prices in Ukraine at the beginning of the year led to a drop in butter prices. A drop in consumer activity in the market is also traditionally observed during the New Year holidays. In addition, Ukrainian companies reduced the volume of butter exports in December due to lower prices for the product on foreign markets. (…) The domestic market has seen a surplus of raw milk, and maximum prices for extra and premium milk have gone down due to reduced demand from dairy processing companies,” explained AVM analyst Giorgi Kukhaleishvili.
The AMP reported that Ukraine is also experiencing a decline in butter prices, coupled with a halt in the growth of prices for fermented dairy products due to limited purchasing power of the population and reduced demand for dairy products in the domestic market. Due to high prices for domestic dairy products, imports of processed dairy products, including cheese, increased in December.
“A significant reduction in purchase prices in Ukraine is unlikely due to the increase in the cost of milk production due to rising feed costs and the need to meet EU environmental requirements,” the industry association said.
It is likely that in 2025 the global dairy market will move to a new price corridor – from $40 to $50 per 100 kg of raw milk. In 2024, the average price of raw milk in Ukraine was $42.45 per 100 kg, which is 20% higher than in 2023. The price of raw milk in Ukraine grew throughout 2024, unlike in the EU, the US and New Zealand. In 2025, the average milk price in Ukraine is likely to increase to $45-46 per 100 kg of raw milk. In the absence of force majeure, a certain decrease in purchase prices is likely in late April – early May this year as a result of a seasonal increase in milk production in households, the AMP predicts.
Retail sales of passenger cars in China in December increased by 12% year-on-year to 2.635 million, according to a report by the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA).
Compared to November, they increased by 8.7%.
Sales of new energy vehicles (NEVs) soared by 37.5% yoy and reached 1.302 million. The figure was up 2.6% compared to November.
NEVs accounted for 49.4% of new cars last month, up from 40.3% in December 2023.
For the whole of 2024, passenger car sales in China increased by 5.5% compared to the same period a year earlier to 22.894 million.
Zaporizhzhia Iron and Steel Works “Zaporizhstal” increased its rolled steel output by 18.1% in 2024 compared to 2023, up to 2 million 426.7 thousand tons from 2 million 54.7 thousand tons.
According to the company’s press release on Thursday, steel production for the period increased by 17.2% to 2 million 890.8 thousand tons, and pig iron by 14.2% to 3 million 106.3 thousand tons.
In December, Zaporizhstal produced 284.7 thousand tons of iron, 245.5 thousand tons of steel, and shipped 234.1 thousand tons of rolled products.
Taras Shevchenko, Acting CEO of Zaporizhstal, stated that in 2024, the plant continued to operate in the face of the proximity of the frontline and the resulting security risks, a significant shortage of personnel due to mobilization and migration, significant energy supply restrictions, the crisis in global markets and stagnation of the domestic steel market, etc.
“It took a lot of effort to keep the plant’s production capacity utilization at an average of 75% and, in addition, to continue support programs for the team, the region and the army. The key focus of Zaporizhstal’s team in 2024 was on finding solutions to improve our own sustainability, efficiency and competitiveness – and, given the disappointing forecasts for 2025, we will continue this work to save the plant and our team,” Shevchenko said.
The press release clarifies that the increase in production in 2024 compared to 2023 is due to higher blast furnace productivity, increased demand for commercial pig iron and the partial restoration of the sea freight export route.
In 2023, the plant operated at an average of 70% of its capacity.
As reported, in 2023, Zaporizhstal increased its rolled products output by 57.2% compared to 2022, up to 2 million 54.7 thousand tons, steel by 65.4%, up to 2 million 466.9 thousand tons, and pig iron by 35.3%, up to 2 million 718.9 thousand tons.
“Zaporizhstal is one of the largest industrial enterprises in Ukraine, whose products are in great demand among consumers both in the domestic market and in many countries of the world.
“Zaporizhstal is in the process of integration into Metinvest Group, whose major shareholders are System Capital Management (71.24%) and Smart Holding Group (23.76%).
Metinvest Holding LLC is the management company of Metinvest Group.
In 2024, registrations of electric vehicles (new and used) in Ukraine increased by 38% compared to 2023 – up to 51.7 thousand units, Ukravtoprom reported on its telegram channel.
In particular, registrations of passenger cars increased by 37% to 50,458 thousand, commercial vehicles by 64% to 1,264 thousand, and two electric buses were registered.
The share of new vehicles in zero-emission vehicle (BEV) registrations was 20%, the same as in 2023.
The top five new electric cars of the year were headed by Volkswagen ID.4 (1626 units), followed by Honda M-NV (1279 units), BYD Song Plus (1007 units), Nissan Ariya (766 units) and Zeekr 001 (703 units).
The most popular five used cars are Nissan Leaf – 5511 units; Tesla Model 3 – 4639 units; Tesla Model Y – 4225 units; VW e-Golf – 2479 units and Hyundai Kona Electric – 2337 units.
“Ukravtoprom informs that in December last year, Ukrainians purchased almost 3.8 thousand electric vehicles, 18% less than a year earlier, including more than 3.6 thousand passenger cars (-20%) and 124 commercial vehicles (+59%).
As reported, in 2023, according to Ukravtoprom, registrations of new and used electric cars in Ukraine increased 2.8 times to 37.6 thousand, with new cars accounting for 20% compared to 17% a year earlier.
In turn, the Auto-Consulting information and analytical group, analyzing the market of new passenger electric cars, noted that their share in December amounted to only 11.5% of sales in the market of new passenger cars.
“This is the lowest figure for the whole of 2024,” the group said on its website.
The group’s analysts remind that 2024 began with a 23.7% share of electric cars, but it declined further.
“The catalyst for this process was the shelling of Ukraine’s energy infrastructure. And after each prolonged power outage, a decrease in the share of electric vehicles among new cars purchased was recorded,” the report says.
According to Auto-Consulting, at the end of the year, electric cars accounted for 16.1% of the new car market, which is 1 percentage point less than in 2023, but after the powerful shelling of the energy sector in November and December, the lowest figure was recorded – 11.5%.
“This is despite numerous tax incentives for the import of electric cars. It is clear that this trend is temporary and is caused by the enemy’s attacks on Ukraine’s energy sector, which is a cause for concern among consumers. However, the enemy has actually slowed down the trend of rapid transition to electric mobility in the Ukrainian car market,” analysts say.
At the same time, among other reasons for the decline in demand for electric vehicles, they name a decrease in the supply of popular models of VW ID.4, Honda and others. In addition, unofficial electric vehicles are increasingly facing price changes and service issues.
