An outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease has been reported in Hungary, which has led to emergency measures in a number of countries. The authorities of the UK, Russia and Ukraine have already announced restrictions on imports of animals and animal products from Hungary to prevent the spread of the dangerous virus.
Today, Ukraine has imposed a ban on the import of animals susceptible to the foot-and-mouth disease virus, as well as raw materials and animal products from such animals. The State Service of Ukraine for Food Safety and Consumer Protection (SSUFSCP) explained that the measures were taken to avoid the introduction of the virus into the country. According to the agency, the source of infection can be not only infected animals, but also those in the incubation period. In addition, the virus is transmitted through products obtained from infected animals.
The competent authorities in each country continue to monitor the epizootic situation and are ready to introduce additional measures if necessary.
Foot-and-mouth disease is a highly contagious viral disease that affects farm animals such as cattle, pigs, sheep and goats. It is characterized by the appearance of ulcers and blisters in the mouth, hooves and udders of animals, accompanied by fever and a sharp decline in productivity.
The disease is spread by airborne droplets, through feed, water, clothing and equipment, and can also be transmitted through animal products. Although foot-and-mouth disease is rarely transmitted to humans, it causes significant damage to agriculture, leading to massive livestock losses, strict quarantine measures, and serious economic losses. Due to the high contagiousness of the disease, international veterinary services closely monitor outbreaks and take strict measures to prevent its spread.
PJSC Insurance Company InterExpress (Kyiv) in 2024 collected insurance payments in the amount of UAH 92.334 mln, which is 57.52% more than in 2023.
This has been announced by Standard-Rating agency on updating the company’s credit rating/rating of financial stability (reliability) of the insurer on the national scale at the level of “uaAA”.
Receipts from individuals have grown by 45,35% – to UAH 33,754 mln during this period, and receipts from reinsurers in the analyzed period have amounted to only UAH 197 th. Despite the growth of premiums from individuals, legal entities prevail in the client portfolio of the insurer, the share of which in gross premiums following the results of 2024 has amounted to 63,23%.
RA also informs that insurance payments sent to reinsurers have grown by 26,09% – up to UAH 5,862 mln in 2024 compared to 2023, the ratio of reinsurers’ participation in insurance premiums has decreased by 1,58 p.p. – to 6,35%.
Net premiums increased by 60,23% to UAH 86,472 mln, while net earned premiums increased by 56,45% to UAH 83,090 mln.
Payouts for 2024 compared to 2023 more than doubled to UAH 35.698 million and the payout rate increased by 9.55 pp. – up to 38,66%.
Assets of the company as of January 1, 2025 have grown by 45,24% – to UAH 101,851 mln, shareholders’ equity – by 17,52% – to UAH 65,365 mln, liabilities – by 151,52% – to UAH 36,486 mln, cash and cash equivalents – more than 6 times – to UAH 63,662 mln.
IC InterExpress, registered in 2004, specializes in risk types of insurance.
PJSC Inter-Plus (formerly PJSC IC Inter-Plus Kiev) will be reorganized into LLC Interplus Group (Kiev), the company reported in the information system of the National Commission on Securities and Stock Market (NCSSM).
Such decision was made by shareholders at the meeting on March 3, 2025.
In addition, the general meeting of shareholders approved the procedure and conditions for the implementation of the transformation, elected the personal composition of the termination Commission, established the procedure and term for the application of creditors of their claims.
As reported, the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) revoked the licenses for insurance activities of PJSC IC Inter-Plus and excluded the company from the State Register of Financial Institutions.
Earlier, the NBU on April 1, 2024 provided IC Inter-Plus with permissions to exit the market by executing insurance portfolios and agreed on a plan of exit from the market.
The insurance portfolio of IC Inter-Plus was formed at the expense of payments on third party liability insurance, air, water transport liability insurance (including carrier’s liability) – 76,8%, hull insurance – 6,1%, medical expenses insurance – 5,8%.
The volume of insurance premiums amounted to UAH 140,075 mln, formed insurance reserves – UAH 13,006 mln.
As of January 31, 2025, 4 million 285.61 thousand non-EU citizens who fled Ukraine as a result of the full-scale Russian invasion had temporary protection status in the EU, an increase of 25.53 thousand in January compared to 25.59 thousand in December, Eurostat reports.
“The largest absolute increase in the number of beneficiaries was observed in Germany (+8,800; +0.8%), the Czech Republic (+6,4360; +1.6%) and Spain (+3,050; +1.3%),” the agency said.
It is noted that the number of people under temporary protection in January decreased in Denmark (-2,245; -6.1%), France (-660; -1.1%), Austria (-420; -0.5%) and Lithuania (-155, -0.3%).
According to Eurostat, Germany remains the country with the largest number of refugees from Ukraine in the EU and the world by a growing margin – 1 million 170.25 thousand at the end of 2024, or 27.3% of the total number of beneficiaries in the EU.
The top three also includes Poland – 993.02 thousand, or 23.2%, and the Czech Republic – 394.99 thousand, or 9.2%.
They are followed by Spain (229.67 thousand) and Romania (181.9 thousand) with a significant lag.
There is no data for January for Italy and Portugal, where at the end of 2024 there were 163.10 thousand and 65.29 thousand refugees with this status, respectively. In recent months, Eurostat has also clarified that the data for Spain, Greece, and Cyprus take into account some people whose temporary protection status is no longer valid.
According to the agency, compared to the population of each EU member state, the largest number of temporary protection beneficiaries per thousand people at the end of January 2025 was observed in the Czech Republic (36.2), Poland (27.1) and Estonia (26.0), while the corresponding figure at the EU level is 9.5.
It is also said that as of the end of 2024, Ukrainian citizens accounted for more than 98.4% of the beneficiaries of temporary protection. Adult women accounted for almost half (44.8%) of temporary protection beneficiaries in the EU, children for almost a third (31.8%), while adult men accounted for less than a quarter (23.4%) of the total. A year earlier, the share of women was 46.1%, children – 33.2% and adult men – 20.7%.
More than 100 thousand people with temporary protection status at the end of January 2025 were also in Slovakia – 132.64 thousand, the Netherlands – 122.21 thousand and Ireland – 110.58 thousand.
Between 50 thousand and 100 thousand of them were in Belgium – 88.29 thousand, Austria – 85.14 thousand, Norway – 79.56 thousand, Finland – 69.98 thousand, Bulgaria – 70.34 thousand, Switzerland – 68.40 thousand and France – 57.87 thousand (data on children are mostly not included – Eurostat).
This is followed by Latvia – 48.54 thousand people, Lithuania – 48.10 thousand, Sweden – 47.02 thousand, Hungary – 39.33 thousand, Estonia – 35.72 thousand, Denmark – 34.68 thousand, Greece – 32.81 thousand, Croatia – 26.15 thousand, Cyprus – 22.46 thousand, Luxembourg – 3.94 thousand, Iceland – 3.91 thousand, Malta – 2.24 thousand and Liechtenstein – 0.71 thousand.
Eurostat clarified that all the above data relate to the granting of temporary protection on the basis of EU Council Decision 2022/382 of March 4, 2022, which establishes the existence of a massive influx of displaced persons from Ukraine due to Russia’s military invasion and entails the introduction of temporary protection. On June 25, 2024, the European Council decided to extend temporary protection for these persons from March 4, 2025 to March 4, 2026.
According to updated UNHCR data, the number of Ukrainian refugees in Europe as of February 19, 2025, was estimated at 6.346 million, and 6.907 million worldwide, which is 43 thousand more than on January 16.
In Ukraine itself, according to the latest UN data, 3.665 million internally displaced persons (IDPs), including approximately 160,000 people, were displaced from the frontline areas in the east and south between May and October 2024 due to the intensification of hostilities.
As Deputy Economy Minister Serhiy Sobolev noted in early March 2023, the return of every 100,000 Ukrainians home results in a 0.5% increase in GDP. In its January inflation report, the National Bank estimated the outflow from Ukraine in 2024 at 0.5 million (0.315 million according to the State Border Guard Service). The NBU also maintained its forecast of outflows in 2025 at 0.2 million.
Metal structures have great potential in reconstruction projects and will help speed up the process, Andriy Ozeychuk, Rauta director and chairman of the board of directors of the Ukrainian Steel Construction Center, told Interfax-Ukraine.
“Metal structures have a great potential for use in restoring infrastructure facilities, especially bridges, and protecting the energy sector,” Ozeychuk said.
According to him, partnerships with international companies will help to promote the development of the Ukrainian construction sector, and government orders can also stimulate the market.
“Ukrainian steel producers can be engaged by foreign companies looking for local producers to implement construction projects, as steel is the preferred material for construction in most EU countries,” he explained.
Programs to modernize logistics hubs, warehouses, and industrial zones, as well as the active construction of modular housing and social facilities using steel solutions, can also significantly increase the volume of the steel structures market. Businesses are ready to offer innovative products for such renovation projects, the EBA head emphasized.
In particular, the technology of frameless sandwich panel buildings, for which Rauta received a patent in 2024, allows for the construction of energy-efficient buildings in a matter of days. This solution can be used for the construction of individual residential buildings, prefabricated cold rooms and cold warehouses, as well as other one-story residential and commercial buildings, Ozeychuk said.
Rauta’s comprehensive airtightness solution allows building owners to save up to 30% on their operating costs. The technology is based on the use of Ruukki sandwich panels of the Energy series and takes into account all possible elements to ensure the airtightness of the structure.
In 2023, Rauta developed a technology for the construction of walls of multi-storey residential buildings using sandwich panels instead of masonry made of artificial materials, which allows to increase the area of sold premises by 4.5%, resulting in approximately 11% additional profit for the developer, the expert explained.
Experts club presents the 2024 ranking of all steel-producing countries in the world. The ranking is compiled by the World Steel Association (Worldsteel), which updates data for all steel-producing countries on a monthly basis. Below is the production data in million tons, with percentage of production in 2023 in parentheses.
Global steel production continued to perform strongly in 2024, despite fluctuations in demand and the impact of economic factors. China remained the undisputed market leader, producing 1,005.1 million tons of steel, accounting for more than half of the global total. India, which took second place, continues to increase production, reaching 149.6 million tons, while Japan rounds out the top three with 84 million tons, followed by the United States and Russia.
