Metinvest Mining and Metallurgical Group has acquired Tubular Products Iasi S.A. (AMTP Iasi), a pipe plant in Romania controlled by ArcelorMittal S.A. (Luxembourg), from ArcelorMittal. According to information released by the company on Wednesday, the group continues to promote synergy between the metallurgical industries of Ukraine and the EU.
It is specified that on December 16, Metinvest closed a deal to acquire ArcelorMittal Tubular Products Iași, located in the Romanian city of Iași.
The plant produces welded structural pipes for construction, mechanical engineering, infrastructure, and the agricultural sector. Its maximum capacity is 240,000 tons of products per year.
“Even before the war, Metinvest began building bridges between the metallurgical industries of Ukraine and the EU. Therefore, the new plant is a unique opportunity for us to keep two enterprises busy at once – in Iași and Zaporizhia. This is part of our contribution to post-war recovery. I am confident that the plant’s products will be in demand not only in the EU, but also in the restoration of Ukraine’s infrastructure and industry damaged by the war,” commented Yuriy Ryzhenkov, CEO of Metinvest, on the completion of the deal.
The enterprise became Metinvest’s first production site in Romania. Negotiations on the acquisition of the plant lasted several months. On November 24, 2025, the group received approval from the European Commission to acquire the asset under the European Union Merger Regulation, and the next day, approval from Romania’s national competition authority following a foreign investment screening procedure.
Metinvest’s enterprises in Ukraine have historically produced large volumes of hot-rolled coils for both the domestic market and export. The location of the asset in Romania, just 600 km from Zaporizhia, allows us to supply up to 180,000 tons of hot-rolled coils produced by Zaporizhstal annually. This will provide the Romanian plant with regular orders and stable operation,” said Metinvest’s Chief Operating Officer Alexander Mironenko.
It is also reported that in 2026, the asset is planned to be integrated into Metinvest’s production and organizational chains. The plant has five pipe mills, two longitudinal cutting lines, and two coating lines. Metinvest will comply with all the terms of the employment contracts with the employees of the enterprise in Iasi.
It should be noted that, in addition to Ukraine and Romania, the group has assets in Italy, Bulgaria, the UK, and the US.
AMTP Iasi is registered in Romania and is actively involved in the production and supply of small welded carbon steel pipes.
Metinvest is a vertically integrated group of mining and metallurgical enterprises. Its enterprises are located in Ukraine – in the Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Dnipropetrovsk regions – as well as in the European Union, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The main shareholders of the holding are SCM Group (71.24%) and Smart Holding (23.76%). Metinvest Holding LLC is the management company of the Metinvest Group.
Last week, the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) reduced sales of dollars on the interbank market by $198.3 million, or 18.1%, to $895.3 million, according to statistics on the regulator’s website.
According to the NBU, in the first four days of last week, the average daily negative balance of buying and selling foreign currency by legal entities decreased to $96.0 million from $100.2 million in the same period a week earlier and totaled $384.1 million.
The negative balance on the FX market for households increased to $43.6 million from $30.9 million the week before last, and on all days, sales of non-cash foreign currency exceeded purchases.
The official hryvnia/dollar exchange rate, which started last week at 42.0567 UAH/$1, weakened to 42.2812 UAH/$1 over three days, but ended the week at 42.2721 UAH/$1.
On the cash market, the dollar exchange rate last week followed the trajectory of the official rate, and in general, the dollar rose by about 17 kopecks over the week: buying – to 42.12 UAH/$1, and selling – to 42.49 UAH/$1.
At the same time, due to the rise in the euro against the dollar in the global market after the Fed’s decision to cut the benchmark interest rate by 25 basis points (bps), the hryvnia fell more significantly against the euro last week. Thus, the official exchange rate dropped to 49.4678 UAH/$1 from 48.9961 UAH/$1 a week earlier.
“Last week, the currency deficit remained high without any significant changes compared to the first week of December. Despite this, the NBU slightly reduced its interventions, which hints at a temporary reduction of imbalances in the interbank market,” commented the ICU investment group.
According to its experts, the NBU is concerned about the uncertain prospects for international support next year, as there is no final decision on the EU’s reparations loan yet, so the NBU’s future policy will depend on the EU’s decision on the reparations loan.
“In our opinion, it will be positive. Therefore, we expect the NBU to continue to adhere to a conservative exchange rate policy, allowing only a moderate depreciation of the hryvnia both by the end of this year and throughout 2026,” ICU believes.
Analysts of KYT Group, a major participant in the cash foreign exchange market (Liberty Finance LLC), noted that in December the hryvnia was supported by several important factors, one of the most important being the increase in international reserves to a new historical high of $54.75 billion.
“So far, the situation is such that the hryvnia should not experience any sharp jumps, but in the future (as early as 2026), the hryvnia exchange rate will be under pressure from a number of factors, including, in particular, possible difficulties with the receipt of foreign aid (and a decrease in the amount of such aid),” the company said.
According to their short-term forecast for one to two weeks, the hryvnia exchange rate will remain in the basic range of 42.15-42.50 UAH/$1 with possible multidirectional fluctuations, while in the medium term, for two to three months, KYT Group expects the exchange rate to be 42.25-42.95 UAH/$1.
“In Ukraine, the hryvnia will be influenced by several key factors: the continuation of hostilities, the difficult situation in the energy sector, the decline in economic activity, and the stability of financial assistance from creditors and partners,” the company said, adding that the long-term realistic benchmark is 43.4-44.90 UAH/$1 by mid-2026.
As for the euro, according to the company’s experts, if the Fed cuts the rate by 25 bps again in January, the euro will strengthen more actively, and its fluctuations in the Ukrainian market may reach the level of 50.20-53.20 UAH/€1.
Source: https://bank.gov.ua/ua/markets
https://interfax.com.ua/news/projects/1128490.html
The management of the Kyiv football club Dynamo has decided to appoint Igor Kostyuk as the team’s head coach, according to the Dynamo FC press service.
“Igor Volodymyrovych is a talented coach who has been working at our club for many years. He has trained more than one generation of talented young players, many of whom now play at the highest level in Europe’s top leagues. He knows Dynamo’s young players well and is not afraid to trust young players who have already proven themselves at the first team level. He is a coach who knows how to find the right approach to players,” club president Igor Surkis is quoted as saying on the club’s website.
The club’s management has complete confidence in Kostyuk and believes that he is capable of leading the team to its rightful place in Ukrainian and European football.
As reported, on November 28, the management of Kyiv’s Dynamo decided to dismiss the entire coaching staff of the team, headed by Oleksandr Shovkovskyi, from their duties, according to an official statement by the capital club on the Dynamo website. Shovkovskyi and the team were dismissed after the team’s unsatisfactory results in recent matches.
Igor Kostyuk was appointed acting head coach of the Kyiv giants.
As Serbian Economist reports, the short-term tourist rental market in Croatia from June 2026 will operate under new EU rules, which provide for the complete removal of “gray” rentals from the shadows and strict control over tax revenues.
According to the published explanations, each object rented to tourists (apartments, houses, apartments) will be assigned a unique registration number. It will become a mandatory identifier when placing advertisements on online rental platforms. Placing objects without such a number on services like Airbnb and Booking.com will be prohibited – the absence of the code will automatically mean that the object operates outside the legal framework.
The procedure for obtaining a registration number for owners will be free of charge and, according to the authorities, should simplify control over compliance with the law, as well as reduce the share of unregistered objects rented without paying taxes.
Additionally, part of the control powers will be transferred to the local level: community tourist boards will directly monitor the payment of compulsory tourist tax and will be able to promptly respond to violations by landlords operating illegally or understating real income.
It is expected that the tightening of rules will make the rental market in Croatia more transparent and predictable for tourists, as well as equalize the conditions of competition for legal landlords, while increasing tax revenues to budgets at different levels.
As a consequence, experts predict an increase in the price of vacation in Croatia by 10-12%.
https://t.me/relocationrs/1950
Transmission system operators (TSOs) of Ukraine, Slovakia, Hungary, and Romania launched the first monthly auctions for the allocation of cross-border capacity on Monday, according to Ukrenergo.
They are being held on December 15-17 on the Joint Allocation Office (JAO) platform with delivery in January 2026. The final results of the auctions are to be announced on December 23. According to information on the JAO, the capacity of the interconnection with Hungary is 460 MW, with Romania and Slovakia – 172 MW each. No interconnection capacity is offered from Ukraine.
“Long-term auctions for the allocation of cross-border transmission capacity are definitely beneficial for the Ukrainian electricity market. In the context of massive Russian attacks on our energy system, we really need confidence in a stable supply of electricity imports every month,” commented Vitaliy Zaychenko, chairman of the board of Ukrenergo, whose words are quoted in the company’s Telegram message.
“We are grateful to our partners at ENTSO-E and the JAO auction platform, as well as our colleagues from the energy system operators of neighboring EU countries for their effective cooperation. We hope that it will continue and that annual auctions will also be introduced in the future,” said Zaychenko.
According to NEC, the introduction of such auctions was made possible thanks to cooperation with TSOs of neighboring countries and with the support of the European Network of Transmission System Operators (ENTSO-E). Work on the rules for long-term allocation for the EU’s external borders has been ongoing for the past two years.
“After these rules were approved by the national regulators of Ukraine, Slovakia, Hungary, and Romania, it became possible to allocate free capacity at inter-state crossings through monthly long-term auctions. For Ukraine, this means more effective price forecasting and, in the long term, a reduction in the cost of imported electricity,” Ukrenergo explained.
As noted in the report, on a global scale, monthly auctions contribute to closer integration of the Ukrainian and European energy markets and ensure greater stability of Ukraine’s integrated energy system.
As reported, with the start of a full-scale invasion, given the military risks, ENTSO-E agreed only to daily auctions for the distribution of inter-state cross-border capacity for import and export operations with electricity.
At the same time, traders and energy companies have repeatedly pointed out that the absence of long-term auctions, in particular monthly and annual ones, hinders the effective attraction of imported electricity.
In early December, Vitaliy Zaychenko, Chairman of the Board of NEC Ukrenergo, told Energorforma that he expects the first long-term (monthly) auctions for the distribution of inter-state crossings with Romania, Hungary, and Slovakia since the start of the war to be successful.
“I think these auctions will take place. The market is definitely waiting for long-term auctions. Therefore, I think that the entire proposed cross-border capacity will be sold,” he said.
“Unfortunately, there will be no auctions in Poland because the Polish transmission system operator does not give its consent,” added the head of Ukrenergo.
It should be noted that the auctions launched today are joint, i.e., they are held simultaneously by both operators. The TSO agreed on this mechanism in 2023, and so far, daily auctions have been held under it. Monthly auctions were previously held in Moldova and Poland (Dobrotvir-Zamosc crossing), where unilateral auctions are still in place instead of joint ones.
In January-November 2025, Ukraine increased imports of lead and lead products by 6.1 times, to $7.323 million. In November, lead imports amounted to $436,000.
At the same time, exports of lead and lead products during this period decreased by 17.6% to $8.911 million. In November, exports amounted to $738,000.
In 2024, the country increased imports of lead and lead products by 2.4 times, to $2.391 million, while exports decreased by 22.9%, to $11.401 million.
In 2023, compared to the previous year, less lead and lead products were imported into Ukraine — $989 thousand (-65.2%), while exports increased by 23.5% to $14.778 million.
Lead is currently mainly used in the production of lead-acid batteries for the automotive industry. In addition, lead is used in the manufacture of bullets and certain alloys.
