The state-owned enterprise “Forests of Ukraine” has completed auctions for the first quarter of 2026, during which almost all forest products were contracted, prices for hardwood species continued to rise, and prices for coniferous species stabilized, the press service of the state-owned enterprise reported.
“Forests of Ukraine” noted that the auctions were held for the first time under the zero quota for firewood exports introduced by the Cabinet of Ministers. However, in the process of competitive struggle for resources, market participants once again reached higher price levels.
Thus, 381,000 cubic meters were put up for quarterly auctions for the sale of industrial wood (PV), and almost 100% was contracted. Compared to the fourth quarter, the average price of firewood rose from UAH 2,300/cubic meter to UAH 2,600/cubic meter. The main reason was the rise in the price of hardwood from UAH 2,300/cubic meter to UAH 3,000/cubic meter. At the same time, the market value of softwood did not change significantly and amounted to UAH 2,400/cubic meter.
It is noted that the supply of firewood for sale by the State Enterprise “Forests of Ukraine” was distributed almost equally between quarterly and semi-annual (forward) auctions. The forward contracts for the first half of the year took place earlier: 100% of the resource (741 thousand cubic meters) was sold, with an average sale price of UAH 2.4 thousand/cubic meter.
“The tool for hedging price risks by concluding long-term contracts has once again proven its effectiveness. At least in the first quarter, products under semi-annual contracts for firewood will be slightly cheaper,” the state-owned enterprise stated.
Of the 775,000 cubic meters of round timber put up for sale at quarterly auctions, more than 99.5% was sold. The average selling price increased from UAH 6,800/cubic meter in the fourth quarter to UAH 7,300/cubic meter.
At the same time, “Forests of Ukraine” considers it incorrect to talk about a general increase in prices for commercial timber, since birch rose in price from UAH 5,700/cubic meter to UAH 7,600/cubic meter, oak from UAH 22,000/cubic meter to UAH 28,000/cubic meter, and ash from 8,000 UAH/cubic meter to 11,000 UAH/cubic meter. At the same time, alder has become cheaper, falling from 6,700 UAH/cubic meter to 5,900 UAH/cubic meter, and pine from 5,900 UAH/cubic meter to 5,600 UAH/cubic meter.
About 25% of the resource (654 thousand cubic meters) was put up for forward trading in commercial timber for the first half of the year. The average selling price at forward trading was slightly lower than the quarterly price and amounted to UAH 7.2 thousand/cubic meter. At the same time, while oak and ash were indeed contracted at prices lower than those at quarterly auctions, the situation was reversed for coniferous species, the state-owned enterprise noted.
In December, Viktor Ivanchik, CEO of Astarta agricultural holding, bought 134,640 shares, or 0.53856% of the total number of shares, on the Warsaw Stock Exchange (WSE) and outside it through Albacon Ventures Limited at an average price of PLN51.93 per share.
According to stock exchange reports, transactions were concluded on the stock exchange on 14 days in December, during which a total of 50,334 thousand shares were purchased at an average price of PLN45.94 per share, and on December 19, an off-exchange transaction was concluded to purchase 84,306 thousand shares at a price of PLN55.5 per share.
In total, in December, the CEO of Astarta paid PLN6.99 million, or about $1.94 million at the current exchange rate, for additional shares, while in November he purchased 100 thousand shares on the stock exchange for PLN4.66 million, or about $1.29 million at the current exchange rate.
It is noted that after these transactions, Ivanchik owns 10 million 913.25 thousand shares of the agricultural holding, or 43.653% of their total number.
Prior to this, on September 15, Ivanchik purchased 244,679 thousand shares outside the stock exchange, or 0.9787% of their total number, also at a price of PLN55.5 per share, which is significantly higher than the quotation on the Warsaw Stock Exchange.
As of this Monday at 11:50 a.m., Astarta shares are trading on the stock exchange at PLN45.1, giving the company a market capitalization of PLN1.128 billion, or about $312.7 million.
According to the latest report, at the end of September this year, the Ivanchik family owned a total of 43.21% of shares, compared to 42.23% of shares in the middle of the year, 41.48% at the beginning of this year, and 41.28% at the end of September last year. Fairfax Financial Holdings has also been a major shareholder all this time, with 29.91%, while another 2.1184% of shares are owned by the company itself and were previously repurchased as part of a buyback. As of May this year, minority shareholders also included Kopernik Global Investors with 2.64% and Heptagon Capital with 1.8%.
Astarta is a vertically integrated agro-industrial holding company operating in eight regions of Ukraine and is the largest sugar producer in Ukraine. It comprises six sugar factories, agricultural enterprises with a land bank of 220,000 hectares, dairy farms with 22,000 head of cattle, an oil extraction plant in Hlobine (Poltava region), seven elevators, and a biogas complex.
In January-September 2025, Astarta reduced its net profit by 42.2% to EUR43.70 million, and its consolidated revenue decreased by 22.4% to EUR342.78 million.
On June 12 this year, the shareholders’ meeting approved the payment of dividends for 2024 in the amount of EUR0.5 per share for a total of EUR12.5 million, which is in line with the figures for the previous two years.
As of the end of 2025, 37 industrial enterprises have been built or are under construction in Ukraine’s industrial parks, of which 22 factories have already been built and 15 are under construction, according to the Ministry of Economy, Environment, and Agriculture. As reported, by the end of 2024, 25 industrial enterprises were operating or under construction in industrial parks, of which 12 had been built.
Among those operating or under construction as of the end of last year were enterprises in the fields of agro-processing, food production, furniture and woodworking, machine building, and others. Operating enterprises created 3,716 jobs.
The Ministry of Economy also recalls that in 2025, it decided to provide state incentives to 13 industrial parks for the implementation of 22 infrastructure projects totaling UAH 697.77 million.
In addition, UAH 202.91 million was transferred during the year to two industrial parks, the decisions on which were made in 2024.
Thus, the total amount of state incentives for industrial parks in 2025 amounted to UAH 900.681 million, the ministry concludes.
“2025 was the year when the number of industrial parks turned into real platforms for the implementation of the ”Made in Ukraine” policy. Almost UAH 1 billion in state incentives for industrial parks this year is an investment in infrastructure that is already giving life to new factories today. The state is laying the foundation, and business is turning it into new capacity and jobs,” Economy Minister Oleksiy Sobolev is quoted as saying in the statement.
As reported, 13 industrial parks received state incentives last year.
As of December 31, 2025, 118 industrial parks were included in the Register of Industrial Parks, of which 24 parks were included during 2025. At the same time, eight parks that did not carry out any activities were excluded from the Register.
The State Incentives for the Creation of Industrial Parks program provides for the development of engineering and transport infrastructure in industrial parks on a co-financing basis. State support may be directed toward the construction of roads, electrical networks, water supply and sewage systems, gas supply, and other technical solutions necessary for the launch of production.
State incentives provide for co-financing in a ratio of 50% to 50% for up to UAH 150 million per IP, and for de-occupied territories in a ratio of 80% to 20%.
The Ministry of Economy is implementing the program in cooperation with Ukreximbank, Oschadbank, Ukrgasbank, and Sens Bank.
A number of fiscal incentives are also provided for IP participants.
More than 250 thousand sole proprietorships closed in Ukraine in 11 months of 2025, according to the Unified State Register. One in eight entrepreneurs who closed last year worked in Kyiv. On average, sole proprietors live for 2.4 years. The longest-lived entrepreneurs are those engaged in warehousing activities, while the shortest-lived are couriers.
250,209 fops have closed since the beginning of 2025 in Ukraine. The peak of closures occurred in January, when, after a month and a half break in the work of the registers, 59,723 entrepreneurs immediately documented the closure.
2 years and 4 months is the average period of operation of a fop in Ukraine.
We follow the dynamics on the page about Ukrainian foponomics.
Every eighth entrepreneur who closed in 2025 worked in Kyiv: 32,469 fops. Dnipropetrovs’k region is the second most closing region: 22,645 entrepreneurs ceased their activities last year. Small businesses in Kharkiv (20,481), Odesa (18,714), and Lviv (16,521) regions closed by a small margin.
The most vulnerable last year were retailers, accounting for a third of closures (77,705). On average, such businesses have been in existence for less than 3 years. Another 16,909 sole proprietorships in the wholesale trade sector ceased operations in 2025 – such entrepreneurs barely make it through the year. Overall, the trade niche alone accounts for almost half of the closures.
By a wide margin , IT specialists were the second most frequent closures – 28,668, or every ninth entrepreneur who closed last year. By the way, IT entrepreneurs are also among the longest-lived entrepreneurs – 3 years and 11 months.
How long does the average fop live?
The longest-lived entrepreneurs in Ukraine are those engaged in warehousing, with more than 6 years of experience.
Real estate entrepreneurs have been operating for 5 years and 11 months. Businesses in the field of equipment repair, in particular, household appliances, round out the top three: 5 years and 9 months.
But courier firms are the least resilient – only 6 months, on average, have been worked by entrepreneurs who closed in this area last year. FOPs in the field of administrative and auxiliary office activities survive for 9 months.
Entrepreneurs in the aforementioned wholesale trade and educators have been operating for just over a year.
https://opendatabot.ua/analytics/fops-midage-2025
In 2025, Ukrainians purchased 83,443 thousand new passenger cars, which is 17% more than in the previous year. In particular, in December, sales increased 2.2 times to 12,724 thousand, according to AUTO-Consulting
“Thus, 2025 went down in history as the year of the Ukrainian car market’s recovery,” the group’s website states.
Toyota maintained its leadership in 2025, selling 10,700 cars (3.15% less than in 2024), although in the last months of the year it was forced to let Chinese BYD take the lead.
Experts note that BYD became the phenomenon of 2025, rising from 11th place in the ranking to second and occupying 26% of the market by the end of the year with sales of almost 10,600 cars (4.6 times more).
“We have never seen such a rapid breakthrough before. It should be added that BYD’s sales were carried out by so-called “gray” dealers, without an organized network of car dealerships, without service, without a coordinated policy. However, BYD became the second automaker to sell more than 10,000 cars in Ukraine in a year,” analysts said.
They noted that Volkswagen has been in third place in Ukraine for a year in a row, but this result was also made possible by the supply of “gray” electric cars from the Chinese market.
Renault lost two positions over the year and is now only fourth with sales of 6,330 cars (-11.4%), while Skoda, which took fifth place, is not far behind with sales of 6,180 cars (+21.2%).
According to AUTO-Consulting, BMW remains the No. 1 brand among premium cars, although in 2025 it had to actively defend this status from the Chinese as well – sales of the brand, which took sixth place in the overall ranking, fell by 21.4% to 3,800.
“Unexpectedly, Ukrainian consumers began to trust the newly created Chinese premium manufacturers and actively switch to them. That is why we already see Zeekr as number 8 on the market, although a year ago it only made it into the top 20. But Zeekr even had enough strength to overtake Audi,” the report states.
Experts also noted the successful policy of Hyundai, which increased sales by 37% to 3,640 units.
They also noted that Honda is in the top 10 for the second year in a row, which, thanks to “gray” dealers of Chinese electric cars, was able to overtake its colleagues in the Japanese auto industry – Suzuki, Mazda, and Nissan.
AUTO-Consulting emphasizes that the result of passenger car sales in December is due to the end of VAT exemptions on electric cars, whose share exceeded 50% (50.8%) for the first time last month.
“In December alone, Ukrainians purchased more than 6,500 electric cars, which is more than all car sales in the months at the beginning of 2025,” the report says.
In December, BYD took first place and sold 3,300 electric cars, compared to 192 in December 2024.
In addition, thanks to “gray” dealers, Volkswagen took second place in December (1,332 cars) and 10% of the Ukrainian market, surpassing Toyota (1,159 units). Skoda took fourth place with sales of 933 units (+56.3%), and Zeekr took fifth place (898 cars), surpassing all competitors in the premium segment.
“In fact, not all automakers were able to withstand the ‘Chinese electric invasion’ in December in the top 10. Among them were Renault, Hyundai, BMW, and Audi, although their sales were boosted by “gray” deliveries from the Chinese market,” experts noted.
The Ukravtoprom association also notes a 17% growth in the passenger car market in 2025, to 81,300 units. In particular, according to its data, 12,400 cars were sold in December, which is 2.2 times more than in December 2024 and 50% more than in November 2025. According to the association, the top three were BYD with 3,164 units, Volkswagen with 1,298 units, and Toyota with 1,117 units.
Next in the ranking are Skoda with 969 units, Zeekr with 844 units, Renault with 658 units, Honda with 441 units, Hyundai with 375 units, BMW with 324 units, and Audi with 316 units.
The bestseller of the month was the Volkswagen ID.UNYX.
As reported, according to Ukravtoprom, in 2024, initial registrations of new passenger cars in Ukraine increased by 14% compared to 2023, to 69,600 units, while according to AUTO-Consulting, sales increased by 9.8%, to 71,300 units.
As of January 1, 2026, 26 sugar factories that are members of the Ukrtsukor association processed 10.43 million tons of sugar beets and produced 1.574 million tons of sugar, the association’s press service reported on Telegram.
The industry association specified that sugar yield was 15.19% (+1.13% compared to last season) with beet sugar content of 17.63% (+0.88% compared to last year).
In January, six sugar factories will continue processing sugar beets. The sweet root processing season is expected to end by January 20, 2026, Ukrtsukor concluded.
The association reminded that sugar beet processing is also carried out by the Gorokhiv Sugar Factory, which is not a member of Ukrtsukor and does not provide the association with operational information.
As reported, 1.25 million tons of sugar were produced in Ukraine in the 2024-2025 marketing year, meaning that domestic sugar factories produced 25.9% more product this season than last year. The volume of the domestic market in Ukraine is currently estimated at 900,000 tons per year.
