The global wheat market has entered the spring season with increased volatility due to geopolitical tensions in the Middle East and fierce competition among key exporters, according to the information and analytical agency “UkrAgroConsult.”
Analysts noted that the Black Sea region remains the main benchmark for global prices, and Ukrainian wheat quotations at ports on CPT terms are currently in the range of $215–222 per ton. Demand from major importers in North Africa and the Middle East remains strong, as evidenced by buyers’ willingness to operate at current price levels even during periods of geopolitical uncertainty.
At the same time, in EU countries, large carryover grain stocks and weaker export rates continue to put pressure on domestic prices. Against this backdrop, logistics costs and energy prices are playing an increasingly significant role in shaping the global market, as they directly determine suppliers’ competitiveness and the overall economics of production.
Among the key trends of the season, UkrAgroConsult highlighted the formation of a new structure of global trade under the influence of geopolitical factors. Analysts predict that increased investor interest in commodity assets and changes in traditional logistics routes will be decisive for price dynamics in the short term.
Construction has begun on the Tera Hall shopping and entertainment center (Chernivtsi, 236 Ruska St.), with its opening scheduled for the third quarter of 2028, according to the press service of the consulting firm Retail & Development Advisor (RDA), which serves as the exclusive broker for the shopping center.
According to RDA CEO Andriy Lototsky, the total area of the four-story complex will be 16,150 square meters, with 11,600 square meters dedicated to retail. The shopping center’s anchor tenants will be the Silpo supermarket and the Kraina Mriy children’s entertainment center. Other retail chains will include stores selling clothing and footwear, home goods, household appliances, jewelry, books and stationery, as well as impulse-buy items and service providers. According to him, the project’s target audience will be families with children, motorists, and active young people aged 20–40, and the estimated projected traffic for the shopping center will be approximately 10,000 visitors per day on weekdays and 13,000–14,000 on weekends.
As Tera Hall Director Svitlana Gomeniuk clarified, the permit for the construction of the shopping center was obtained in January 2026, after which preparatory work began on the site. By the end of this year, the developer plans to complete the monolithic and main structural work.
“It is of fundamental importance to us that the complex complies with modern building codes, safety standards, and energy efficiency requirements. Solar panels are planned for its roof, which will ensure autonomous power supply, and heating will be provided by its own gas boiler room,” Gomenyuk said.
The preliminary design of the complex was developed in collaboration with the architectural firm Guess Line Arch. As part of the project, the developer will also build a large parking lot with 240 spaces; in case of air raid alerts, the shopping center will feature a shelter designed to accommodate 1,500 people.
Retail & Development Advisor is a Ukrainian consulting company that provides a full range of services in the field of retail and office real estate. It offers services in architectural concept development, brokerage, property management, outsourcing of shopping center development/leasing departments, market analytics, and more.
CHERNIVTSI, CONSTRUCTION, Kraina Mriy, SHOPPING MALL, Tera Hall, СИЛЬПО
Kyivstar, Ukraine’s largest mobile operator, has acquired the regional internet provider Shtorm LLC (Shtorm) in the Kirovohrad region, which serves over 50,000 subscribers, for 420 million UAH, announced Kyivstar CEO and President Oleksandr Komarov.
“This acquisition brings over 50,000 new broadband customers in 130 municipalities into the Kyivstar ecosystem, supporting our strategy to expand our broadband network,” he said during a conference call regarding the company’s annual report on Friday.
“In the fixed broadband market, we aim to strengthen the group’s leadership through organic growth and acquisitions,” Komarov emphasized regarding the company’s future development strategy.
He noted that cross-selling and synergies are at the core of Kyivstar’s digital growth strategy. According to him, for example, in the fourth quarter, the share of broadband customers subscribed to Kyivstar TV grew by more than 3 percentage points (pp) to 48%.
“We attribute this growth to effective marketing and the increasing appeal of our content library, including programs unavailable elsewhere in Ukraine,” Komarov noted.
He noted that the number of multi-service customers (including customers who use at least one digital application in addition to voice and data services) grew by 18% year-over-year in the fourth quarter of 2025, reaching 7.3 million, or 35% of the active customer base in a single month, which is nearly 6 percentage points higher than a year earlier.
“The multi-service segment is driving growth thanks to stronger customer engagement, higher data consumption, and improved customer retention. They (such customers) also generate a higher ARPU—$5.20 per month for our services, which is 37% higher than the average for a mobile customer,” noted the company’s president.
Kyivstar announced the acquisition of Shtorm in late February. At the time, it was noted that this provider offers coverage in the Kirovohrad region, covering the cities of Kropyvnytskyi, Oleksandriia, and 132 surrounding settlements. The press release did not include information on the purchase price of the provider.
According to data from YouControl, the revenue of Isp Storm LLC for the first nine months of 2025 increased 4.7-fold compared to the first nine months of 2024—to 94.86 million UAH—while net profit jumped 17-fold—to 30.39 million UAH.
The beneficiaries of the company, which has a registered capital of 4.5 million UAH, were Vitaliy Oliynyk and Yulia Makarenko on an equal basis.
Kyivstar emphasized that the deal preserves the provider’s workforce of more than 100 employees, including engineers, designers, and customer service specialists, who will continue to be responsible for network maintenance and subscriber support in the region.
In August of last year, Kyivstar first announced the $2 million acquisition in September 2024 of LanTrace (Boryspil)—a regional provider of fixed broadband internet access in the Kyiv region.
As reported, Kyivstar served 22.4 million mobile subscribers and 1.2 million “Home Internet” subscribers as of the end of 2025. In 2025, the company increased its EBITDA by 30% to 27 billion UAH, with revenue growing by 30.3% to 48.2 billion UAH; including in the fourth quarter of last year, when EBITDA increased by 23.1% to UAH 7.2 billion, with revenue growing by 30.1% to UAH 13.5 billion.
JSC “Hartron” (Kharkiv), 50%+1 share of which is owned by the state, plans to allocate UAH 20.23 million, or 75% of its net profit of nearly UAH 27 million, to pay dividends to shareholders for 2025.
According to the draft resolution of the general meeting of shareholders scheduled for April 15, dividends are planned to be paid at a rate of nearly UAH 0.23 per share with a par value of UAH 0.25.
The amount of dividends attributable to the state’s stake will be UAH 10.115 million.
“Due to the replenishment of the reserve fund to 25% of the authorized capital, no contributions to the reserve fund will be made; retained earnings amount to UAH 6.744 million,” the statement reads.
As previously reported, based on its 2024 results, “Hartron” planned to allocate 75% of its net profit, or nearly 18.113 million UAH, for dividend payments, calculated at 0.21 UAH per share with a par value of 0.25 UAH. Net profit for 2024 amounted to UAH 24.15 million.
The shareholders’ meeting plans, in particular, to elect the supervisory board for a new term.
“Hartron,” founded in 1959, operates in market segments such as the rocket and space industry, energy (including nuclear), and rail transport. The ‘Hartron’ group of companies includes JSC “Hartron” itself and a number of subsidiaries established with its participation.
According to data from the National Securities and Stock Market Commission (NSSMC) for the fourth quarter of 2025, the major shareholders of JSC “Hartron,” aside from the state, are Chairman of the Board Mykola Vakhn (18.29%) and Volodymyr Kucherenko (18.2856%).
There is no information in open sources regarding the company’s net sales revenue for 2024 and 2025.
According to Serbian Economist, Budva’s tourism industry will face a shortage of at least 5,000 seasonal workers during the 2026 summer season, the Investitor.me portal reported, citing Alexander Jovanovic, chairman of the Budva Restaurant Association. According to him, the problem of securing seasonal labor remains chronic for the resort, as interest from workers in Montenegro is declining.
The country’s largest hotel company—the largely state-owned Hotelska grupa Budvanska rivijera—has already begun recruiting staff for the summer and estimates its own need at approximately 600 seasonal workers. Through the employment service, the company has posted dozens of job openings, including waiters, cooks, bartenders, bakers, lifeguards, beach and pool attendants, housekeeping staff, and support personnel.
Budvanska rivijera stated that all seasonal workers are provided with housing and three meals a day, and that it continues to collaborate with agencies, vocational schools, and universities to attract students and trainees during the peak season—in July and August. At the same time, the company acknowledges that it has to seek new sources of recruitment outside the country.
Employers in Budva are increasingly hiring workers from Asia. Jovanović himself attributes the labor shortage in part to the fact that some Montenegrins prefer to leave for seasonal work in other tourist destinations, primarily in the EU and neighboring Croatia.
Montenegro’s growing dependence on foreign labor is also confirmed by broader statistics. In 2025, the country issued 40,567 temporary residence and work permits to foreigners, which is 6.7% more than in 2024. Permits were granted to citizens of 107 countries, with the largest groups consisting of workers from Turkey, Serbia,
Russia, Azerbaijan, Albania, Ukraine, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Nepal, North Macedonia, and India.
This situation indicates that, as the summer season approaches, Montenegro is becoming increasingly dependent on the external labor market, and the labor shortage in tourism is no longer a local problem for individual hotels but a systemic constraint affecting the entire coast.
Geographical structure of Ukraine’s foreign trade (surplus) in January-September 2025, million usd
