In 2023, Ukrainian companies increased imports of copper and copper products by 2.2 times in value compared to 2022, to $140.795 million.
According to customs statistics released by the State Customs Service of Ukraine, exports of copper and copper products decreased by 20.1% to $72.078 million during this period.
In December, the company imported copper worth $20.856 million and exported $6.906 million.
In addition, in 2023, Ukraine reduced imports of nickel and products by 74.2% compared to 2022, to $15.391 million ($1.025 million in December), and increased imports of aluminum and aluminum products by 7.7%, to $366.463 million ($31.951 million).
At the same time, it reduced imports of lead and lead products by 65.2% to $989 thousand ($70 thousand), imports of tin and tin products by 23% to $2.728 million ($310 thousand), but increased imports of zinc and zinc products by 18.8% to $45.966 million ($3.665 million).
Exports of aluminum and aluminum products last year increased by 0.7% compared to 2022 to $97.616 million ($8.433 million in December), lead and lead products increased by 23.5% to $14.778 million ($704 thousand), nickel and nickel products amounted to $532 thousand ($24 thousand), while in 2022 it was $1.268 million.
Zinc was exported abroad in 2023 for $130 thousand ($13 thousand in December) against $1.331 million in 2022. Exports of tin and tin products amounted to $159 thousand (up $79 thousand in December) against $424 thousand in 2022.
As reported, in 2022, Ukrainian enterprises reduced imports of copper and copper products in value terms by 64.3% compared to the previous year to $65.370 million, while their exports decreased by 56.3% to $90.245 million.
In addition, in 2022, Ukraine reduced imports of nickel and nickel products by 49.9% compared to 2021, to $59.754 million, and aluminum and aluminum products by 33.4%, to $340.398 million. At the same time, it reduced imports of lead and lead products by 66.6%, to $2.839 million.
Imports of tin and tin products fell by 33.5% to $3.312 million, and imports of zinc and zinc products decreased by 58.7% to $38.690 million.
In 2022, exports of aluminum and aluminum products decreased by 42.7% compared to 2021, to $96.972 million, lead and lead products – by 68.7%, to $11.970 million, and nickel and nickel products – by 73.9%, to $1.268 million.
Zinc exports in 2022 amounted to $1.331 million, while in 2021 they amounted to $550 thousand. Exports of tin and products in 2022 amounted to $424 thousand, compared to $346 thousand in the previous year.
Real GDP in 2021-2025 (forecast)
Source: Open4Business.com.ua and experts.news
Corteva Agriscience, an international research and development agricultural company, increased corn seed exports by 50% in 2023 compared to the previous year, its press service reports.
According to the press release, during 2023, the company’s seed production complex in Poltava region shipped more than half a million sowing units of Pioneer® corn seeds, which was a record volume for the 10 years of Corteva’s production in Ukraine.
“Russia’s actions against Ukraine’s agricultural sector prove its outstanding role in ensuring food security in many regions of the world. Corteva considers Ukraine to be one of the largest players in the global agricultural market and in recent years has been consistently increasing production and export of high-quality hybrid corn and sunflower seeds to ensure the ability to produce agricultural products in Ukraine and in those countries where farmers depend on seeds produced in our country,” said Oleksiy Turchynov, Head of Seed Production at Corteva Agriculture in Ukraine.
The company also said that it intends to continue developing the production capacity of the seed complex to increase seed exports through established sales channels to the European Union. To this end, the company has reconfigured its export chains and in 2023, farmers in Europe (Austria, France, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Germany, Lithuania, Poland, Serbia) and Central Asia received Ukrainian corn seeds of the Pioneer® brand.
As reported, the company’s seed complex in Poltava region was officially opened in June 2013. More than $56 million was invested in its construction. The annual capacity of the plant is about 500 thousand sowing units of corn seeds and 250 thousand sowing units of sunflower seeds.
Corteva Agriculture is a global agricultural company. It offers comprehensive solutions to maximize yields and profitability. It has more than 150 research facilities and more than 65 active ingredients in its portfolio.
The company’s presence in Ukraine includes the headquarters in Kyiv, a research center in Liubarky (Kyiv region) and a seed production complex in Stasi (Poltava region).
In April 2022, the company decided to leave the Russian market due to the full-scale war against Ukraine unleashed by Russia.
In 2023, Poninkivska Cardboard and Paper Mill-Ukraine (PCPM-Ukraine, Khmelnytsky region), a major Ukrainian corrugated cardboard producer, increased its corrugated packaging output by 25.4% compared to 2022, to 86.7 million square meters.
According to Ukrpapir Association statistics provided to Interfax-Ukraine, the mill continues to be among the top three producers of this product after Kyiv Cardboard and Paper Mill and Trypillia Packaging Plant.
According to statistics, last year the plant also increased its production of containerboard by 16.3% to 79.2 thousand tons.
At the same time, in December, the production of corrugated boxes at PCBF-Ukraine increased by 16.8% to 7.8 million square meters by December 2022, and paper and cardboard by 36% to 7.7 thousand tons.
In monetary terms, in 2023, PCBF-Ukraine produced products worth almost UAH 2 billion 450 million, up 3.1% year-on-year.
As reported with reference to the data collected by the association from the main enterprises of the industry (since the State Statistics Service stopped providing such data in 2019), in 2023, the production of paper and cardboard in Ukraine increased by 12.3% to 578.3 thousand tons, and cardboard boxes by 19.5% to 539.26 million square meters.
Poninkivske Mill (formerly Poninkivske Cardboard and Paper Mill), once the largest producer of school notebooks, currently has one main production line – paper and cardboard, producing mainly corrugated cardboard and corrugated packaging, as well as wrapping and waste paper.
The plant is part of the United Cardboard Company-Ukraine (UCC, Lutsk) owned by businessman Mykola Lobov, whose production assets include, among others, Lutsk KBF-Ukraine (Volyn region), which produced almost 66 thousand tons of various cardboard last year (according to Ukrpapir) (up 30.6%) and 17.4 million square meters of corrugated boxes.
As reported, in 2022, PCBF-Ukraine produced products worth UAH 2 billion 446 million, up 6.5% year-on-year.
JSC Slavic Wallpapers – KFTB (formerly Koryukivka Technical Paper Factory, Chernihiv region), a leading Ukrainian wallpaper producer, produced 16.2 million conventional pieces of wallpaper in 2023, up 19% from 2022.
According to statistics provided by UkrPapir Association to Interfax-Ukraine, in December, in particular, 1.12 million conventional pieces were produced, down 2% from December 2022 and 13% from November 2023.
At the same time, in monetary terms, the factory’s production volume increased by 38.2% to UAH 1 billion 249 million last year.
The EBA has no data on wallpaper production in Ukraine as a whole, as the State Statistics Service stopped providing it in 2019.
As reported, in 2022, the factory reduced wallpaper production by 2.4 times compared to pre-war 2021 to 13.59 million pieces, while production decreased by 45% to UAH 903.55 million.
The company noted that the Russian aggression had significantly reduced sales, especially through retail channels. The factory exported 56% of its products in 2022, mainly to Uzbekistan, Latvia, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, and Azerbaijan.
JSC Slavic Wallpaper-KFTB is one of the largest European wallpaper factories producing more than 10 types of wallpaper from the economy segment (paper, duplex, acrylic) to premium wallpaper (vinyl, non-woven, hot stamped).
In addition, the factory produces its own latex, water-dispersion paint under the Latex brand.
Metinvest Mining and Metallurgical Group has started manufacturing and supplying steel bunker headquarters to the Ukrainian Armed Forces to protect them from enemy shelling as part of Rinat Akhmetov’s Steel Front initiative.
According to the company’s press release on Friday, Metinvest has launched the production of steel underground command posts that protect personnel from the effects of shelling and enable the Ukrainian Armed Forces to operate in safe and comfortable conditions on the front line. The first steel headquarters, designed for 30 soldiers, has already been delivered to the Ukrainian Army free of charge and installed in one of the hottest areas of the frontline.
It is explained that the command post helps to save lives of the military, as it can be deployed and retracted on the front line in a short time and, if properly installed, provides protection against artillery fire of any caliber. The steel headquarters consists of five or six (depending on the configuration) separate mobile bunkers, the production of which Metinvest mastered in October 2022. These are interconnected underground shelters that perform various functions, from living quarters and a sanitary area to the command’s working headquarters. This creates a whole underground complex of buildings.
The bunkers, made of corrugated steel, are equipped with all the necessary equipment for a good hotel: sleeping and working areas, showers and boilers, heating, lighting and communication systems, storage for weapons and personal belongings, and electronic equipment. This makes it possible to use the underground headquarters not only as a shelter and a place of rest, but also as a work area that ensures the quality of the command’s work on the front line.
Metinvest’s Chief Operating Officer Alexander Mironenko noted that the war is long and combat operations have become a constant companion of every Ukrainian, especially those who defend the country in the ranks of the Armed Forces. Therefore, the development of improved bunkers and entire underground complexes is a contribution of Metinvest and Rinat Akhmetov’s Steel Front to improving the lives of soldiers on the front line.
“People are the most important thing. And if we can not only create a safe space from shelling but also make it as comfortable as possible, we do it. I hope that there will be more and more such control points on the front line, and these “underground towns” will become a reliable support for the command of military units. Metinvest is also planning to develop new configurations of underground steel complexes for other needs of the Armed Forces. That is why we will not stop until Ukraine wins,” commented Mr. Mironenko on the handover of the first command post to the Armed Forces.
The new command posts are based on a traditional bunker model – a “kryivka” – which Metinvest has already delivered to various brigades of the Armed Forces since 2022. The design of the standard steel bunker was modified for use as part of a permanent headquarters, with dimensions increased to 6 meters long and 2.3 meters high. Each “hideout” is designed for six people and is equipped with places for rest, storage of personal belongings and an integrated heating system. It takes about 400 hours for Metinvest’s specialists to make one such structure.
“The advantage of our army over the enemy is that we fight with quality and brains. And at the same time, we are able to make informed decisions quickly, because the lives of our soldiers and the success of combat operations are at stake. That’s why we strive to ensure the safety and create comfortable conditions for the military’s work and rest even at ground zero, in the heat of war. Command posts based on modular shelters meet the army’s request and allow us to set up fortified headquarters on the front line, which will fulfill their main task – to control the battle and inflict a crushing defeat on the enemy in any situation,” said Brigadier General Volodymyr Horbatiuk.
In total, since the beginning of the full-scale war, Metinvest has allocated UAH 4.8 billion to support Ukraine and Ukrainians. Of this amount, over UAH 2.5 billion was provided to the soldiers as part of Rinat Akhmetov’s Steel Front military initiative. The company has donated 150,000 bulletproof vests, 25,000 helmets and helmets, 80,000 anti-tank hedgehogs, 31,500 turnstiles, 1,500 drones, 2,000 thermal imagers, 500 vehicles, dozens of mine trawlers for tanks, patrol boats and lance catchers.
“Metinvest is a vertically integrated group of steel and mining companies. The Group’s enterprises are located mainly in Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Dnipropetrovs’k regions. The main shareholders of the holding are SCM Group (71.24%) and Smart Holding (23.76%), which jointly manage it. Metinvest Holding LLC is the management company of Metinvest Group.
