The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) left its forecast for corn production in Ukraine for the 2026/27 marketing year unchanged at 30 million metric tons in its July WASDE report.
The forecast for Ukrainian corn exports also remained unchanged at 23 million metric tons. According to the WASDE tables, the July estimate for Ukraine for the 2026/27 marketing year indicates production of 30 million metric tons, exports of 23 million metric tons, and ending stocks of 2.06 million metric tons.
For the 2025/26 marketing year, the USDA estimates Ukraine’s corn harvest at 30.9 million metric tons and exports at 23 million metric tons. Thus, compared to the current season, the new forecast suggests a slight decline in production but maintains export potential at the same level.
In its global corn balance sheet, the USDA lowered its production forecast for the 2026/27 marketing year to 1.297 billion metric tons in July, down from 1.300 billion metric tons a month earlier. The main decline is attributed to the European Union and Kenya, while the forecast for Ukraine remained unchanged.
Global corn exports for the 2026/27 marketing year, on the other hand, were raised to 209.88 million metric tons from 207.61 million metric tons in June. The USDA also lowered its forecast for global ending corn stocks to 275.26 million metric tons, down from 281.22 million metric tons in the June report.
The WASDE summary notes that foreign corn production has been reduced due to deteriorating prospects in the EU and Kenya. For the EU, the reduction is primarily due to the heatwave in France and a lower forecast for Hungary.
The Ukrainian corn forecast remains sensitive to weather conditions in the second half of the summer. Corn is more heavily dependent on precipitation and temperatures in July and August, so the actual harvest may differ significantly from the USDA’s current estimate.
Ukrainian steelmakers reduced pig iron production by 0.2% in January–June of this year compared to the same period last year, down to 3.661 million metric tons.
According to information released by the “Ukrmetallurgprom” association on Wednesday, 670.6 thousand metric tons of pig iron were produced in June, 634.4 thousand metric tons in May, 554 thousand metric tons in April, 690.2 thousand metric tons in March, in February—561.9 thousand metric tons, and in January—549.9 thousand metric tons.
As previously reported, Ukraine’s metallurgical enterprises increased pig iron production by 11.2% in 2025—to 7.884 million metric tons.
In 2024, Ukraine increased pig iron production by 18.1% compared to 2023—to 7.090 million metric tons. In 2023, pig iron production fell by 6.1% to 6.003 million metric tons, and in 2022, it fell by 69.8% to 6.391 million metric tons.
In 2021, before the war, 21.165 million metric tons of pig iron were produced, or 103.6% of the 2020 level.
According to The Serbian Economist, Ukrainian tennis player Oleg Prykhodko has decided to change his sporting citizenship and will henceforth compete under the flag of North Macedonia.
The athlete is renouncing the flag under which he previously competed in international tournaments. Details of the transition process, as well as the reasons behind his decision, have not yet been officially disclosed.
Oleg Prykhodko is currently ranked 296th in the ATP rankings, which will make him one of North Macedonia’s leading tennis players once the change in sporting citizenship is complete.
The 27-year-old tennis player primarily competes in ATP Challenger and ITF tournaments. Over the course of his career, he has won several titles in both singles and doubles.
https://t.me/relocationrs/3211
The Noms app—a visual food diary with artificial intelligence features—is gaining popularity on social media. Unlike traditional food trackers, it displays meals not as a table but as a “virtual table” or visual food diary: users take photos of their meals, and the app turns them into stickers and estimates calories, protein, fat, and carbs.
Judging by the pages on the App Store and Google Play, Noms was developed by Vietnamese developer Dat Pham / Phạm Tiến Đạt. On Google Play, the developer’s profile lists Vietnam, and on the App Store page, Dat Pham is also listed as the provider.
The main feature of Noms isn’t so much the calorie-counting function itself as it is the design. The app turns meals into a visual diary: food is displayed as a set of “stickers,” and users can view a meal calendar, save their history, create video summaries, and share cards on social media.
The AI feature works via photos: the user takes a picture of a dish, and the model estimates the calories, carbohydrates, proteins, and fats. The app description specifically notes that Noms can automatically calculate nutritional values and save the history in the calendar.
However, the app cannot be considered a completely free service with no restrictions. It can be downloaded for free, but the App Store lists in-app purchases, and the description mentions a PRO subscription and ads for free users regarding social features. Google Play also lists in-app purchases.
For the consumer AI app market, Noms is interesting because it transforms food tracking from a “boring diary” format into a game and visual content experience. This reflects a broader trend: AI services are trying not just to process data, but to make everyday habits more understandable, engaging, and social.
According to Relocation, residential real estate prices in Germany rose by an average of 1.4% in the first quarter compared to the same period in 2025, according to a report by the Federal Statistical Office.
Apartment prices in the country’s seven largest cities (Berlin, Hamburg, Munich, Cologne, Frankfurt am Main, Stuttgart, and Düsseldorf) rose by 0.3%, while in other major cities they rose by 2.9%. In densely populated rural areas, prices fell by 0.4%, while in sparsely populated areas, they rose by 3.6%.
Single- and two-family homes in metropolitan areas became 1.4% more expensive, and in other major cities, they rose by 1.2%. In sparsely populated rural areas, buyers paid, on average, 0.8% less than a year ago.
Residential real estate prices overall rose by 0.3% in January–March compared to the previous three months.
Nearly 800 entrepreneurs are currently on the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine’s blacklist due to bid-rigging, according to the Consolidated Report on the Distortion of Tender Results. This represents 30% of the total number of businesses on this list. Overall, the largest number of such entrepreneurs are in the Lviv region. Nearly one in three sole proprietors on the AMCU’s blacklist operates in the wholesale trade sector.
As of the end of June 2026, there were 797 sole proprietors on the AMCU’s blacklist. This accounts for 30% of the total number of sole proprietorships and companies on this list.
Entrepreneurs are placed on the blacklist if the AMCU finds them guilty of collusion while participating in public procurement. This refers to situations where several tender participants merely create the appearance of competition, but in reality agree in advance on who will win. As a result, the state may end up overpaying for goods, works, or services, while other participants lose the chance to win the tender fairly.
Being included on this list has consequences: for three years following the AMCU’s decision, such entrepreneurs may be barred from participating in public procurement. That is why contracting authorities regularly check this list before determining the tender winner.
You can check whether a business is on the AMCU’s blacklist using OpenDataBot.
The number of businesses in violation is growing year after year. While 242 decisions regarding such businesses were issued in 2024, that number rose to 306 in 2025. This is the highest figure in the last 10 years. Another 186 entrepreneurs, whom the Committee found to have engaged in anti-competitive concerted actions, were added to the list this year.
The largest number of sole proprietors on the blacklist are registered in Lviv Oblast—95 entrepreneurs, or nearly 12% of the total. Next are Dnipropetrovsk Oblast (81 sole proprietors), Kyiv (78), Vinnytsia Oblast (52), and Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast (39).
Nearly one in three of these entrepreneurs works in wholesale trade—there are 231 such sole proprietors. Another 139 entrepreneurs are engaged in retail trade. The violators also include representatives of the food service industry (47), specialized construction work (33), and general construction (32).
https://opendatabot.ua/analytics/amku-black-list-2026
