The state-owned Ukrgasbank (Kyiv) has granted two loans to Kryvyi Rih totaling UAH 105.5 million for a term of seven years with a grace period of 12 months, according to information on the website of the Ministry of Finance.
According to the information, the interest rate on the loan of UAH 87.6 million is 14.5% per annum in the first year and, from the second year, a variable UIRD 12M +3% with annual review, but not exceeding 23%.
The second loan of 17.9 million is issued at a rate of 16% per annum for the first year, which from the second year is UIRD 12M + 3.62% with annual review, but also not more than 23%. It is explained that 3.62% is 16% minus the current UIRD 12M at 12.38%.
According to the National Bank of Ukraine, as of March 1, 2025, Ukrgasbank ranked fifth (UAH 217.52 billion) among 60 banks operating in the country in terms of total assets.
As reported, at the end of November last year, Ukrgasbank issued a five-year loan to the city of Dnipro for UAH 100 million with a 12-month grace period at 13.5% in the first year and UIRD 12M +3%, but not more than 23% in subsequent years.
Agrotrade agricultural holding has completed the sowing of industrial hemp, allocating 330 hectares in the Chernihiv region, which is 100 hectares more than a year earlier, the holding’s press service reported on Facebook on Wednesday.
The expansion of production areas in the agricultural holding was explained by the higher profitability of industrial hemp compared to other crops.
Agrotrade also drew attention to the agronomic specifics of hemp: it is sown later than the main crops, and the cultivation technology requires careful preparation.
“The company has been growing industrial hemp for three years in a row as part of a pilot project. This season is the final one. After the harvest, a decision will be made on the future of this line of business. Over the past three years, we have collected enough data to make an informed decision based on economic justification — whether to scale up this direction or close it,” explained Alexander Ovsyannik, director of the agro-industrial department at Agrotrade.
Agrotrade is a vertically integrated holding company with a full agricultural cycle (production, processing, storage, and trade of agricultural products). It cultivates over 70,000 hectares of land in the Chernihiv, Sumy, Poltava, and Kharkiv regions. Its main crops are sunflower, corn, winter wheat, soybeans, and rapeseed. It has its own network of elevators with a total storage capacity of 570,000 tons.
The group also produces hybrid seeds of corn, sunflower, barley, and winter wheat. In 2014, a seed plant with a capacity of 20,000 tons of seeds per year was built on the basis of the Kolos seed farm (Kharkiv region). In 2018, Agrotrade launched its own brand, Agroseeds.
The founder of Agrotrade is Vsevolod Kozhemyako.
Kyivstar, Ukraine’s largest mobile operator, increased its revenue by 49.5% in January-March 2025 compared to the same period in 2024, to UAH 10.72 billion, doubling its investments to UAH 2.42 billion.
According to the financial statements published by the parent company VEON, the operator’s revenue in the first quarter increased by 36.9% in dollar terms, to $257 million.
Kyivstar’s revenue for the first quarter of 2025 grew by 49.5% thanks to an increase in ARPU (average revenue per user), which rose by 53.9% to UAH 140.6.
“These impressive results were achieved thanks to price adjustments, the stability of the 4G base, and the growing adoption of Kyivstar’s digital services, which in turn led to an increase in mobile internet consumption.
The dynamic revenue growth reflects the effective recovery from last year’s cyberattack,” VEON said in a statement.
The bulk of Kyivstar’s revenue in the reporting period came from telecom services, which grew by 47.8% to UAH 10.39 billion. However, revenue from digital services increased 2.4 times to UAH 329 million.
EBITDA increased by 64.2% to UAH 5.95 billion, and EBITDA margin increased by 5 percentage points (pp) to 55.6%. In dollar terms, EBITDA grew by 50.6% to $143 million. EBIT increased by 99% to UAH 4.18 billion, and EBIT margin by 9.8 p.p. to 39.1%.
Kyivstar’s subscriber base decreased by 4.9% to 22 million subscribers in the first quarter of 2025. The 4G subscriber base also decreased by 4.3% to 14.3 million.
“The decrease in the number of 4G users is mainly due to the overall decline in mobile subscribers. This was more than offset by a 21.2% increase in data consumption per user and an increase in the number of roaming subscribers,” VEON said in a statement.
Kyivstar recorded a 21.2% increase in data usage (the amount of gigabytes consumed by users) in January-March, to 11.4 GB. The digital MAU (Monthly Active Users) indicator grew by 32.9% to 10.3 million.
During the same period, the revenue of the Helsi digital platform grew by 41% compared to the same period last year. At the end of the first quarter, the platform had 1.8 million app users, which is 30% more than in the first quarter of last year. The number of medical professionals on the platform also increased by 3% compared to the same period last year. As of the end of March, the number of active doctors on the platform reached 39,000.
Kyivstar TV showed impressive revenue growth of 177%, thanks to a 34.9% increase in subscribers compared to the same period last year. The growth was driven by attractive content offerings, including the exclusive launch of the Setanta Premium sports channel and an updated sports section in the app, VEON said. Ukrainian-language content now accounts for 81% of the platform’s catalog. In addition, the Kyivstar TV app has expanded its reach with the launch on Xbox devices.
Kyivstar’s capital investments in January-March increased by 126% to UAH 2.42 billion and were mainly directed towards strengthening the network’s energy resilience and expanding 4G coverage.
Imports of transformers, inductors, and chokes to Ukraine in January-April 2025 increased 2.5 times compared to the same period in 2024, reaching $338 million, according to statistics from the State Customs Service.
According to published data, during this period, products were imported mainly from China, worth $279 million (82.5% of all imports of these goods), while a year earlier, transformers and chokes worth $66.1 million (48.4%) were imported from this country, i.e., imports increased 4.2 times.
In addition, transformers were imported from Germany ($17.4 million) and Turkey ($13.9 million), while in January-April 2024, imports from Turkey amounted to $37.1 million, and from Italy – almost $5 million. In particular, in April, imports of this equipment increased by 50% compared to the same month last year, but decreased by 22.3% compared to March this year, to $55.2 million. China’s share was 48.7%.
At the same time, Ukraine exported transformers, inductors, and chokes worth $8.37 million in the first four months of this year, compared to $5.64 million last year, mainly to Germany, Hungary, and Poland.
According to the State Customs Service, imports of transformers, inductance coils, and chokes in 2024 more than doubled compared to 2023, reaching $596.11 million, with imports from China increasing 2.5 times to $400.48 million.
The conditions for funding scientific research do not allow Ukrainian scientists to fully protect their intellectual property rights and developments abroad, according to Oleg Zadorozhny, senior researcher at the Filatov Institute of Eye Diseases and Tissue Therapy in Odessa, National Academy of Medical Sciences of Ukraine.
“Patents for all our developments are mainly patents within Ukraine. As for obtaining intellectual property rights abroad, this is a more complex issue that requires tens of times more financial resources. The conditions for financing scientific research do not yet allow for the full protection of intellectual property rights abroad,” he said in an interview with the Interfax-Ukraine news agency.
He noted that publishing in the most authoritative scientific journals also requires significant funding. “But we manage to find opportunities to publish our results in leading scientific journals in Europe and the US, introducing the scientific community to our developments and thus confirming the priority of Ukrainian science,” he said.
At the same time, Zadorozhny added that even in wartime, the institute manages to present itself at the international level, including by participating, in particular remotely, in major international scientific events and conferences, as well as holding the annual international conference “Filatov Readings.”
Source: https://interfax.com.ua/news/interview/1071616.html?utm_source=telegram
Tractor imports to Ukraine in January–April 2025 amounted to $294.2 million, which is 2.6% less than in the same period of 2024, according to statistics from the State Customs Service (SCS).
According to published statistics, tractors were mainly imported from the United States (21.3% of total imports of this equipment, or $62.5 million), Germany (16.8% or $52.2 million), and China (16% or $47.3 million), while a year earlier it was Germany ($49.34 million), the Netherlands ($38.6 million), and Poland ($37 million).
In April of this year, tractor imports decreased by 2.1% compared to April 2024, to $85.1 million, while in March, the increase was 13.3% compared to March 2024, amounting to $98.62 million.
According to statistics, only $1.63 million worth of tractors were exported in the first four months of this year, mainly to Romania, Zambia, and Germany.
As reported, tractor imports to Ukraine in 2024 amounted to almost $784 million, 5.6% less than a year earlier, while exports amounted to $5.44 million compared to $5.74 million.
