In January-July 2025, Ukraine reduced imports of nickel and nickel products by 26.7% compared to the same period in 2024, to $12.446 million (in July – $1.875 million), while exports of nickel and nickel products amounted to $746,000 (in July – $139,000) compared to $423,000 for the first seven months of 2024.
Nickel is used in the production of stainless steel and for nickel plating. Nickel is also used in the production of batteries, in powder metallurgy, and in chemical reagents.
Ukraine will expand its diplomatic presence around the world in 2025-2026, according to the draft Action Program of the Government in the sphere of responsibility of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which was made public on Monday.
According to the draft published on Monday, four more Ukrainian embassies and up to nine new consular offices are to open by the end of 2025.
In addition, there are plans to upgrade the status of two existing consulates and approve the decision to establish 10 to 20 honorary consulates of Ukraine.
By the end of 2026, three new diplomatic missions are expected to begin operating in Latin American countries.
In January-July of this year, Ukrainian enterprises increased imports of copper and copper products in value terms by 29.1% compared to the same period last year, to $109.984 million.
According to statistics released by the State Customs Service of Ukraine on Tuesday, exports of copper and copper products during the period increased by 12.7% to $55.437 million.
In July, copper imports amounted to $16.821 million, while exports amounted to $9.357 million.
Copper is widely used in electrical engineering, pipe manufacturing, alloy production, medicine, and other industries.
In January-June 2025, the KSG Agro agricultural holding increased its revenue to $9.4 million, which is 20.2% more than in the same period of 2024, and operating profit by 37.5% to $765,000, the press service of the agricultural holding reported.
“The increase in sales revenue and operating profit during this difficult period of war is a remarkable result and further confirmation of the correctness of our vertically integrated holding strategy, which we began to implement long before the start of the war. In addition, our pig herd renewal program, which we intensified in 2024-2025, played an important role,” said Sergey Kasyanov, Chairman of the Board of Directors of KSG Agro.
As reported, during 2025, the KSG Agro agricultural holding actively rejuvenated its herd at its own pig farm. In June-July, the pig herd was replenished with 500 purebred breeding sows from Danish Pig Genetics, supplied by Breeders of Denmark A/S (Denmark). The agricultural holding claims that this will allow KSG Agro to renew its pig herd with 4,000 highly productive F-1 hybrid sows already this year.
KSG Agro is a vertically integrated holding company engaged in pig breeding, as well as the production, storage, processing, and sale of grain and oilseeds. Its land bank in the Dnipropetrovsk and Kherson regions is about 21,000 hectares.
According to KSG Agro, it is one of the five best pork producers in Ukraine.
In 2023, the agricultural holding began implementing a “network-centric” strategy, under which it will move from developing a large location to a number of smaller pig farms located in different regions of Ukraine.
In January-July of this year, Ukraine increased imports of coke and semi-coke in physical terms by 6.1% compared to the same period last year, to 364,669 thousand tons from 343,678 thousand tons.
According to statistics released by the State Customs Service (SCS) on Tuesday, imports of coke in monetary terms decreased by 2.8% during this period, to $121.049 million.
It was mainly imported from Poland (89.62% of supplies in monetary terms), Indonesia (7.90%), and the Czech Republic (2.45%).
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, electricity shortages, and the deterioration of the security situation.
Last year, Ukraine increased its 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 worth $368 thousand to Moldova (99.18%) and Latvia (0.82%), while in January, March, October, and November 2024, there were no exports, and in 2023, exports amounted to 3,383 tons worth $787 thousand.
Varus.ua’s turnover through Nova Poshta delivery in the first half of 2025 increased by 1.61 times compared to the same period in 2024, and the supermarket chain’s revenue increased by 18.1%, according to the chain’s press service.
“The online segment showed strong results in the first half of 2025. The market share and turnover of the Varus.ua conscious shopping service doubled compared to the same period last year,” said Oleg Spirin, e-commerce director at Varus.ua.
The frequency of purchases on Varus.ua grew by 10%, and the average check by 15%.
It is noted that in the first half of the year, the number of website users increased by 20%, and app users by 90%.
According to the company, the turnover of the Varus supermarket chain grew by 18.1% compared to the first half of 2024. Three new stores were opened: one in Odesa and two in Kyiv. One of the capital’s supermarkets was implemented in the Varus Home “near home” format, which became the second facility of this format in the chain.
The total number of Varus supermarkets is 115.
In 2025, Varus will launch four new brands. Currently, the chain has 14 private labels, according to a press release. Private labels account for 10.5% of the chain’s total turnover.
In the first half of the year, Varus hired 2,009 new employees. According to the press service, in July, young people aged 17 and older accounted for 7% of the total number of new employees.
According to a press release, in July, Varus received the first tranche of a loan from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development—almost UAH 630 million out of a total loan amount of over UAH 1 billion. The remaining funds will be received by the end of the year as part of a UAH 2.2 billion food security project.
“The funds received will be used to expand the network, increase business resilience, and implement energy-efficient solutions as part of the Green Economy Transition (GET) approach. Varus plans to install solar panels, modernize lighting, introduce reversible split air conditioning systems, and develop stable logistics,” the company said, noting that solar power systems have already been installed at 21 supermarkets in the chain.
Varus is a national supermarket chain represented on the Ukrainian grocery retail market by Omega. The first store in the chain was opened in 2003 in Dnipro, and there are now 115 supermarkets in various cities across Ukraine and a DarkStore in Kyiv. The chain operates in several formats: classic supermarkets, To Go stores, and the Varus.ua online store.
According to Opendatabot, the owner of Omega LLC is the Cypriot company Veigant Enterprises Limited. The ultimate beneficiaries are listed as Valery Kiptik and Ruslan Shostak.
According to the company’s financial results for 2024, its revenue increased by 14.3% compared to the previous year, to UAH 20 billion. Net profit decreased by 80.9% to UAH 38.2 million.
