In January-July 2025, Ukraine exported agricultural and food products worth $5.73 billion to the European Union, which is $891 million, or 13%, less than in the same period last year, according to an EU report.
At the same time, Ukraine managed to maintain its fourth place in the list of suppliers of agricultural products to the EU during this period. Ahead of it are Brazil ($9.1 billion), the United Kingdom ($7.8 billion), and the United States ($6.9 billion).
The ranking of the largest suppliers of agricultural products to the EU also includes China ($5.24 billion), Côte d’Ivoire ($5.05 billion), Turkey ($3.68 billion), Vietnam ($2.81 billion), Argentina ($2.57 billion), and Switzerland ($2.51 billion).
In total, agricultural imports to the EU in January-July 2025 are estimated at $96.8 billion (+16%).
Agricultural exports from the EU during the same period amounted to $118.7 billion (+2%). At the same time, $2.1 billion (+17%) worth of goods were supplied to Ukraine.
Thermal and waterproofing materials in Ukraine since the beginning of 2025 have gone up in price by 15-20%, the volume of demand remains stable, Sweetondale sales directorate head Alexander Manuylo told the Interfax-Ukraine agency.
“In 2025 in the segment of heat and waterproofing materials there were several price increases – in general by 15-20% depending on the product category. This is for the first time in four years of war and is mainly due to rising prices for energy resources, equipment and raw materials imported from outside Ukraine,” he said.
As for demand, according to the company, it generally remains stable, and in some sales channels it is even growing. For example, despite the active hostilities on the territory of Ukraine, the direction of industrial logistics complexes is rapidly developing. Thermal modernization of the old housing stock continues. Of the negative factors, the expert noted a tangible lack of funding for international reconstruction programs, in particular USAID, in 2025.
“For our part, we continue to complete state infrastructure projects and support the construction of fortification facilities. Unfortunately, there is a new category of facilities that were built during the war, but suffered significant damage and, accordingly, require renovation and restoration,” Manuilo added.
The structure of clients in 2025 has also changed: the market of new residential high-rise construction is no better. Prospects for the next year in the company have always been assessed by the number of new pits, but they state that in the presence of a significant number of permits for new construction now there are very few new pits.
The market is feeling the positive impact of government rebuilding programs, but their scale and speed of implementation do not match the needs at hand. “Businesses and citizens are now largely taking the initiative, whereas government support could be a more effective catalyst for recovery. Government support in our segment is mainly focused on the rehabilitation and thermo-modernization of social and educational institutions,” says Manuilo.
Thermal insulation materials (mineral wool and extruded polystyrene foam), on which the energy efficiency and comfort of projects directly depend, remain the most popular items. No less relevant is waterproofing, as more and more attention is paid to the reliable protection of buildings, including underground shelters.
Sweetondale is expanding its product line. In particular, 2025 has already introduced a new product – bitumen-polymer primer, and soon it is planned to launch a line of mastics, which will allow to comprehensively cover the needs of customers in the field of waterproofing solutions.
According to Manuilo, the company leads the Ukrainian market in all key product categories (up to 50%) and is working to expand exports. “The main priority for us has always been and remains the Ukrainian consumer: we are primarily focused on providing the domestic market with quality materials. At the same time we are increasing export volumes. Our products are already represented in Moldova, Romania, Poland, the Baltic States and Scandinavia. They are highly appreciated for their quality and compliance with international standards. This confirms the competitiveness of our materials not only in Ukraine, but also abroad,” he said.
According to Opendatabot, the authorized capital of Zavod “Sweetondale” LTD (“Zavod ”Sweetondale” LTD) is UAH 13.5 million, for 2024 the company received revenue of UAH 1.9 billion, which is 16.4% higher than the results of 2023, net profit amounted to UAH 314.2 million, which is 6% lower than the results of 2023.
Sweetondale was founded in 2012 by Gary Alan Stern. It initially specialized in industrial equipment engineering and leasing. Negotiations to acquire the plants owned by Russia’s Technonikol began in 2015 and were finalized in February 2018. Today, the company includes three plants for the production of roofing and thermal insulation materials: a plant for the production of mineral insulation in Cherkassy, a plant for the production of polymer insulation and a plant for the production of bitumen-polymer roll materials in Kamenskoye.
Ukrainians purchased more than 6,800 new passenger cars in September, which is 20% more than in September 2024 and 1% more than in August this year, UkrAvtoprom reported on its Telegram channel.
“For the first time, Chinese BYD took the lead in the market, exceeding its last year’s result by five times,” the message says.
According to the association, BYD’s sales in September amounted to 989 units (5.4 times more than in September last year).
The long-time sales leader, Toyota, took second place in the ranking with sales of 828 cars (-1%); Volkswagen came in third with 733 units (+118%).
Further down the ranking were Renault with 471 units (-13%); Skoda with 467 units (+5%); BMW with 366 units (-16%); Hyundai with 347 units (+47%); Zeekr with 248 units (+103%); Mazda with 244 units (+17%); and Honda with 216 units (+50%).
For the first time, the Volkswagen ID.Unyx electric car became the bestseller of the month.
UkrAvtoprom reports that 52,900 new passenger cars were registered in the country in January-September, which is 0.3% less than last year.
As reported, in 2024, initial registrations of new passenger cars in Ukraine, according to UkrAvtoprom, increased by 14% to 69,600 units.
The build-to-rent segment is gaining momentum in Ukraine, with developer Standard One’s projects maintaining zero vacancy rates and average returns of around 20% per annum in dollars, despite the difficult conditions of the war, the company’s press service reported.
“We are creating a proven financial model that allows our investors to receive stable and predictable income. We build all properties according to the same concept. Investors follow us from project to project because they see real returns,” said Standard One co-owner Alexander Ovcharenko in the podcast “Real Estate Code.”
According to him, thanks to rising real estate prices and rental income, the average return on Standard One projects is currently around 20% per annum in dollars, taking into account capitalization.
He said that before building in Kyiv, the company studied the experience of the US, Austrian, and Polish markets in creating and managing buildings with well-thought-out infrastructure and services.
“When we studied their approach, we set up a mini-laboratory in Kyiv upon our return. It was a kind of ‘test’ apartment in full size. We filled it with furniture and appliances and arranged everything so that future residents would have comfortable housing ready for them. I think we succeeded. Currently, we provide a stable income for investors and offer residents a high level of comfort. The company’s portfolio of properties is growing,” says Ovcharenko.
Standard One’s first build-to-rent project was S1 VDNG, completed in 2019 near the Vystavkovyi Tsentr metro station in Kyiv. All 660 apartments were handed over to investors fully renovated and furnished. The specially created management company S1 Property took over the operational processes: finding tenants, legal support, and 24/7 service for residents. Currently, the occupancy rate in the complex is 99%, and it takes only a few days to find a tenant.
Focusing on residents’ requests, Standard One creates large co-working lobbies, develops service infrastructure near the buildings, and implements innovative engineering solutions in the buildings themselves. For example, one of the company’s new projects will install geothermal heat pumps, which will significantly reduce heating costs and make the building self-sufficient.
According to Ovcharenko, Standard One is reviving the tradition of Kyiv’s apartment buildings, which at the beginning of the 20th century provided the city with quality housing and a stable income for investors. “We combine historical heritage with international practices and modern technologies,” emphasizes Alexander Ovcharenko.
Standard One (S1) is a full-cycle development company that has been developing the build-to-rent real estate segment in Kyiv since 2016. Its portfolio includes the completed S1 VDNG project and the new S1 Obolon, S1 Terminal, and S1 Nyvky buildings.
Ripple’s participation in the pilot projects of national digital currencies (CBDCs) has helped the company to better understand the needs of central banks and the role of commercial players in the future financial system. This was stated by former Ripple CBDC advisor Anthony Welfer.
Since 2021, Ripple has been involved in testing digital currencies with a number of countries. The partners included Palau, Montenegro, Bhutan, Georgia, and the United Kingdom. According to Welfer, these projects not only allowed the technology to be tested in practice but also spurred the development of the XRP Ledger (XRPL).
“CBDC experiments have shown that the main challenge of the future is interoperability. CBDCs, stablecoins, and tokenized deposits should work together to make it easy and convenient for people and businesses to use them,” he emphasized.
Back in 2023, the company introduced an XRPL-based platform for issuing both CBDCs and stablecoins. In August 2025, it launched its own RLUSD token pegged to the US dollar. The coin operates on both the XRPL and Ethereum networks. The capitalization of RLUSD has already approached $790 million, which remains a small share of the global stablecoin market (over $300 billion).
At the same time, Ripple announced a partnership with DBS and Franklin Templeton to launch trading and credit tokenized products based on XRPL and RLUSD.
In this way, the company is trying to integrate into the fast-growing digital asset sector, using the experience gained in pilots with governments.
https://www.fixygen.ua/news/20251001/eks-menedzher-ripple-cbdc-proekti-zminili-rozvitok-xrpl.html
On September 26, Kyiv hosted the 19th CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE CONFERENCE, the only cross-industry event in Ukraine that brought together business leaders and experts in the field of customer experience.
This year’s theme, “A System for Profit,” was a response to a key challenge for companies: how to make customer experience not a one-time initiative, but an operating system that has a consistent impact on profit, reputation, and business development.
The conference was attended offline and online by 500 top managers, team leaders, and experts from various industries who strive to create effective service standards.
In her welcoming speech, KA Group founder Alona Zhupikova emphasized that customer experience always marks the beginning of a new stage of development:
“Customers change, contexts change, technologies change. CX is a living organism, and the task of business is to understand how it works and respond in a timely manner.”
She stressed that it is data research, language analytics, and the implementation of AI solutions that help predict customer needs and create products of the future.
From strategy to measurement
Olena Tsysar, an international expert in strategic development at SK, presented a model of customer experience maturity, which she described as a “mosaic” of three elements: motivation, organization, and culture.
“Our main goal is to bring the customer’s voice back into the business. CX is not just about standards or handling complaints. It’s about humanity and respect for the journey of each customer and employee,“ she emphasized.
Kirill Yezhov, Business Development Director at Kantar Ukraine, continued the theme. He stressed that without clear metrics and accountability, customer experience remains just a good idea:
”82% of CEOs worldwide consider customer experience to be a growth factor. But real results only come when a company can not only listen to the customer, but also act quickly based on data.”
He presented an approach that combines X-Data (customer emotions and experiences) and O-Data (operational metrics), emphasizing the importance of consistency in processes, roles, and culture in creating a CX management system.
Examples of change: from a bank to a super-premium brand
Yulia Moroz, Sales Director at Oschadbank, shared her experience of a large-scale service transformation. Thanks to automation and multi-channel services, more than 70% of customer inquiries are now handled by a voice assistant.
“The customer is the starting point for all changes. Only when CX works as a team system does the customer receive fast and seamless service,” she noted.
Every year, Oschadbank processes 400,000 requests and remains the only bank that has mobile branches even in frontline territories.
Oleksandr Kotolup, founder of Figaro Catering, continued this theme. He focused on the importance of emotions in service: “The WOW effect is an emotion of surprise and joy that brings money, repeat customers, and high loyalty. Emotions work, and they need to be directed in the same way as the fashion industry does.”
Igor Blystiv, Director of Marketing and Innovation at Kormotech, explained how working with three key audiences—veterinarians, breeders, and end consumers—enabled the company to build an entire ecosystem for the Optimeal brand, which strengthened its position in the market.
“Look at the customer on the scale of the entire ecosystem. Create long-term initiatives that become pieces of something bigger,” emphasized Igor Blystiv.
Journey management in action
Oleg Koss, founder of Lanka.CX, focused on dynamic customer journey maps. He explained that journey management should be a living tool integrated into the daily work of teams. According to international research, implementing this approach results in:
+37% increase in customer satisfaction,
+15% additional sales,
+18% improvement in customer retention.
“Complex services need a conductor. Journey management synchronizes teams and helps them focus on a common result,” the expert noted.
Simplicity as a strategy
Mykola Chumak, co-founder and CEO of IDNT, concluded the substantive part of the presentations with the topic of simplicity in services and products.
“Simplicity is not minimalism. It is a strategic cleansing of the superfluous, which allows customers to interact with the company quickly and clearly,” explained Mykola Chumak.
He highlighted five principles of simplicity: empathy, understanding complexity, focus, human language, and attractive design.
Data-driven CX
The panel discussion “Data-driven CX” brought together experts from Minimal, Uklon, Ajax Systems, Colobridge, and the Banda agency.
They talked about how to combine analytics and creativity so that data not only records results but also helps create a better experience for customers.
Volodymyr Brazhnyk, Marketing Director at Minimal: Data is the basis for decision-making.
Maria Tsvid, Product Manager and Analytics Strategist at Colobridge: Analytics points the way and helps create relevant messages.
Mykola Umanets, Head of Customer Experience Development at Uklon: Metrics must be based on real needs, otherwise they will remain numbers without any real impact.
Maria Nevzorova, Director of Technical Support, Service, and Repair at Ajax Systems: She shared her experience of scaling support services without losing a personalized approach to customers.
Customer voice and innovation
The second panel discussion brought together representatives from Dnipro-M, DILA, WOG, NovaIT, and Revisior. They discussed how to integrate customer voice into product strategy and create a culture of rapid feedback.
Vladislav Zhilikhovsky, Dnipro-M, emphasized that speech analytics allows businesses to hear customers in real time and gain insights that change the quality of service and speed of decision-making.
Iryna Dergachova, DILA, added: “Speech analytics minimizes manipulation because it is based on real customer voices, not assumptions.
Another key point was the technological approach presented by Oleg Kushil, WOG, and Dmytro Romaniuk, NovaIT. They explained how modern algorithms help to quickly analyze thousands of customer conversations and identify problems before they become critical.
The experts agreed that companies that quickly test ideas and feedback become more resilient to market changes and are able to launch new services faster than their competitors.
Practice: CX as a winning strategy
To not only hear ideas but also experience their impact, participants took part in a workshop led by Marina Bereziuk, a business psychologist and service expert. The approach is based on understanding service as an interconnected structure where each element influences the other. Working in teams, participants modeled their own customer experience systems, focusing on four key components: people, processes, monitoring, and motivation. This exercise showed how even small changes in one element can transform the entire system.
Participants’ insights
The conclusion of the conference was a kind of summary in the form of joint reflection. Participants shared their own discoveries and key ideas that they will take with them to work.
Roman Orlov, Kron: “Before the conference, I thought that customer experience was just surveys and changes. Now I see that it is a holistic system where all the tools work together.“
Ruslana Kharuk, EverHelp:
”An impressive customer experience is impossible without a quality employee experience. This is the foundation of success.“
Dmytro Pashko, marketing consultant: ”Customer experience is becoming the main currency of business. Marketing departments are transforming into CX marketing, which deeply studies customer behavior and becomes a point of change within the company.”
Partners
General partner: Oschadbank.
Official partners: Kormotech, Colobridge, and Linkos Group. Thanks to the support of the partners, participants were able to exchange experiences and learn about modern solutions in technology, the food industry, and digital services.
Conclusion
CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE CONFERENCE provided new knowledge, partnerships, and insights that will help Ukrainian companies create a systematic, transparent, and profitable business that develops through customers.
KA Group events calendar: https://kagroup.ua/#kalendar
Contacts: info@kagroup.ua
KA Group – kagroup.ua
Interfax-Ukraine – information partner
