The OKKO Group plans to open a new 60,000-tonne elevator by autumn 2025 and a bioethanol plant in summer 2026, OKKO Group CEO Vasyl Danylyak said in an interview with Tomas Fiala, co-founder of investment company Dragon Capital.
According to him, the company began construction of an 83,000-ton bioethanol plant last year. Only part of its production will be supplied to the domestic market, with the rest intended for export.
“In Ukraine, since May 1 of this year, there have been mandates to add 5% bioethanol to fuel in accordance with European standards, but this share may increase to 10%. Accordingly, after analyzing our market share, we decided to build a plant with a capacity of 83,000 tons. In addition, we worked with American consultants, who are number one in the market, on the format of the plant’s operation. Thanks to this, we chose the best option: it will work partly for our group and partly for export,” said Danylyak.
The CEO emphasized that by the fall of this year, the group of companies plans to complete the construction of a 60,000-ton storage elevator, and in June-July next year, it expects to fully launch the plant.
Danylyak also said that this year OKKO Group closed a deal to buy 17,000 hectares of land in the north of the Ternopil region and the south of the Rivne region, increasing its land bank to 50,000 hectares.
“As of today, we have a total of about 50,000 hectares under cultivation,” the top manager said.
He explained the interest in these regions by the favorable natural and climatic conditions and the best yield indicators compared to other regions.
Danylyak noted that an important component of OKKO’s agricultural portfolio is its partnership with the Gadz-Agro enterprise in the Ternopil region, in which the company acquired a stake in 2023. The enterprise cultivates 26,000 hectares of land and has about 10,000 head of cattle, of which 5,000 are dairy cows. It is also one of the largest horticultural farms in Ukraine, but OKKO decided not to integrate the horticultural part of the business.
OKKO Group unites more than 10 diverse businesses in the fields of manufacturing, trade, construction, insurance, services, and other services. The group’s flagship company is Galnaftogaz, which operates one of the largest petrol station chains in Ukraine under the OKKO brand, with around 400 petrol stations.
The founder and ultimate beneficiary of the group is Vitaliy Antonov.
On Sunday, May 18, Pope Leo XIV celebrated Holy Mass in St. Peter’s Square in the Vatican to mark the beginning of his Petrine ministry, Vatican News reports.
In his first sermon as Pope Leo XIV, he called for “unity and love.”
“In our time, we still see too much discord, too many wounds caused by hatred, violence, prejudice, fear of differences, an economic paradigm that exploits the earth’s resources and marginalizes the poor. And in the midst of this trial, we want to be a small leaven of unity, communion, and fraternity,” he said.
Voting in the presidential election began in Poland on Sunday at 7:00 a.m. local time (8:00 a.m. Kyiv time – IF-U), according to the Polish Press Agency (PAP).
Thirteen candidates are participating in the election. Voting will continue until 9:00 p.m. An election silence is in effect in the country until the polls close.
“Almost 29 million citizens are eligible to vote. Polling stations are open throughout the country – more than 32,000, with another 511 stations operating abroad,” the report said.
Earlier, the Experts Club analytical center released a video analysis dedicated to the most important elections in the world in 2025. For more details, see here — https://youtu.be/u1NMbFCCRx0?si=QeURHol_f1zN_jLE
In January-April of this year, Ukraine increased imports of coke and semi-coke in physical terms by 64.2% compared to the same period last year – to 256,628 thousand tons from 156,255 thousand tons.
According to statistics released by the State Customs Service (SCS) on Tuesday, imports of coke in monetary terms increased by 47.8% during this period, to $82.920 million. It was mainly imported from Poland (86.87% of supplies in monetary terms), Indonesia (11.54%), and the Czech Republic (1.57%).
During the period in question, Ukraine exported 3 tons of coke worth $2,000 to Albania.
As reported, Metinvest suspended the operations of the Pokrovsk Coal Group in January this year due to changes in the situation on the front line, power shortages, and the deterioration of the security situation.
Last year, Ukraine increased imports of coke and semi-coke in physical terms by 2.01 times compared to 2023, to 661,487 thousand tons, importing it mainly from Poland (84.76% of supplies in monetary terms), Colombia (7.74%), and Hungary (2.69%). In monetary terms, imports increased by 81.9% to $235.475 million.
In 2024, the country exported 1,601 thousand tons of coke, 84.76% of which went to Moldova ($368 thousand) to Moldova (99.18%) and Latvia (0.82%), while in January, March, October, and November 2024, there were no exports, whereas in 2023, exports amounted to 3,383 tons worth $787 thousand.
Imports of electric generator sets and rotary electric converters (HS code 8502) to Ukraine in January-April 2025 increased sevenfold in monetary terms compared to the same period in 2024, reaching $516.31 million, according to statistics from the State Customs Service (SCS).
According to SCS data, electric generators and converters were most often imported from the Czech Republic (18% of total exports of these products, or $93.7 million), Austria (15.6%, or $80.3 million), and the United States (15%, or $77.3 million), while a year earlier it was the Czech Republic ($15.36 million), Austria ($15.2 million), and China ($14.1 million).
In particular, in April, imports of this equipment increased almost fivefold compared to April last year, but decreased by 6% compared to March this year, to $83.14 million.
Ukraine exported electric generators in January-April in insignificant volumes ($1.9 million), mainly to Latvia, Bulgaria, and Turkey.
In addition, according to the State Customs Service, imports of electric accumulators and separators to Ukraine increased 2.3 times in four months to $288.35 million, mostly from China (78.4%), as well as Taiwan (5.3%) and Bulgaria (4.1%).
At the same time, in April, imports of these products increased by more than 81% compared to April 2024, to $70.52 million, which is also 7% higher than in February 2025.
In four months, Ukraine exported batteries worth $17.1 million, mainly to Poland (27.9%), France (15.9%), and Germany (11.3%).
As reported, at the end of July 2024, Ukraine exempted the import of electric generator equipment and batteries from customs duties and VAT.
According to the State Customs Service, in 2024, imports of electric generators and converters to Ukraine increased by 3.7% compared to 2023, to $732.5 million, and batteries more than doubled, to $950.6 million.
In January-April of this year, Ukraine significantly increased imports of aluminum ore and concentrate (bauxite) in physical terms compared to the same period last year, to 13,494 thousand tons from 163 tons.
According to statistics released by the State Customs Service (SCS) on Tuesday, during this period, imports of bauxite in monetary terms increased 10.9 times, to $1.476 million from $136 thousand.
At the same time, imports came mainly from Turkey (82.24% of supplies in monetary terms) and China (17.76%).
Ukraine did not re-export bauxite in 2025, as in 2024 and 2023.
As reported, in 2024, Ukraine increased imports of bauxite in physical terms by 77.4% compared to 2023, to 35,173 thousand tons, and in monetary terms by 74%, to $4.107 million. Imports were mainly from Turkey (78.48% of supplies in monetary terms), China (19.48%), and Spain (1.9%).
In 2023, Ukraine imported 19,830 tons of bauxite worth $2.360 million.
In 2022, Ukraine reduced imports of aluminum ores and concentrates (bauxite) in physical terms by 81.5% compared to the previous year, to 945,396 tons. Imports of bauxite in monetary terms decreased by 79.6% to $48.166 million. Imports came mainly from Guinea (58.90% of supplies in monetary terms), Brazil (27.19%), and Ghana (7.48%).
Bauxite is an aluminum ore used as a raw material for the production of alumina, which is then used to produce aluminum. It is also used as a flux in ferrous metallurgy.
Bauxite is imported into Ukraine by the Mykolaiv Alumina Plant (MHP).
