Ukrainian furniture makers exported $909 million worth of products in 2024, up 15.5% year-on-year, Oksana Donska, a board member of the Ukrainian Association of Furniture Manufacturers (UAFM) and an export expert, toldInterfax-Ukraine.
“Together, the woodworking industry and the furniture industry are among the top 10 export commodity groups with a share of 5.7% in Ukraine’s merchandise exports. I am confident that we will maintain the dynamics of growth in furniture exports and there is a chance that this year we will cross the $1 billion mark,” Donska said.
The expert explained such a positive outlook by the trends of the global furniture market, which has returned to growth, for example, in European countries from 8 to 10% per year.
“Another plus is that IKEA is returning to us to purchase a fairly wide assortment matrix of furniture. At the same time, the number of exporters to large companies is growing. This also applies to small and medium-sized businesses that are forced to export because the domestic market has shrunk significantly,” she says.
According to her, before the war, experts estimated the capacity of the domestic market at $1-1.2 billion, but now it has halved to about $500-600 million.
At the same time, Ukrainian furniture makers achieved export growth in 2024 amid a shortage of personnel (by 30-40%, according to manufacturers). The furniture makers were able to optimize their costs and maintain competitive prices thanks to grant support from both the government and international donors, which helped them to change equipment in their factories and increase their productivity. According to Donska’s estimates, about 50 of the most active manufacturers (out of about 11,000 companies) have attracted state aid alone, and a significant number of them have used it to scale up and move from small to medium-sized businesses. As for microbusinesses, they actively chose a narrow specialization and sought partnerships.
Industry associations, both national and local, helped solve the issue of human resources and export promotion. According to Donska, thanks to UAFM training programs, more than 800 people have been involved in the industry since December last year, and the furniture school has graduated 295 equipment operators and furniture designers. The export promotion project also showed good results. “Participating in an international exhibition with a separate stand is expensive and not affordable for everyone. But joining the national exposition for a few square meters is already possible. Thanks to this program, more than 200 companies have shown their products at international exhibitions in Poland, Germany, the UK, Italy and the UAE,” Donska said. Individual furniture clusters (Lviv and Rivne) also addressed the issue of training and staffing.
IKEA stores are expected to open in Ukraine in 2025, the date will be officially announced by IKEA, said Dmitry Lashin, chief operating officer of Lavina Mall and Blockbuster Mall.
“There is very encouraging information that it will definitely happen this year, but there are two scenarios. The first is that the fighting in Ukraine will stop, so it will happen very, very quickly. If the fighting does not stop, the opening will take a little longer. They are physically ready,” Lashin said.
According to him, the retailer carries out daily activities to physically renovate the store (cleaning, partial repairs, replacing the signage, removing old goods, etc.)
As Oksana Donska, a member of the board of the Ukrainian Association of Furniture Manufacturers (UAFM), told Interfax-Ukraine earlier, IKEA has already received orders for Ukrainian manufacturers “to purchase a fairly wide assortment matrix of furniture.”
As reported, in May 2020, the IKEA online store was officially launched in Ukraine, along with pickup points in Kyiv’s Auchan Rive Gauche and Metro Cash & Carry shopping centers. In December 2020, the third delivery point was opened in the Lavina Mall. In 2021, the first physical store was opened on the second floor of the Blockbuster Mall in Kyiv.
IKEA is a Dutch manufacturing and retail group based in Sweden, one of the world’s largest furniture and household goods retailers. It is part of the Ingka Group. IKEA (Inter IKEA Group) reduced retail sales by 5.3% to €45.1 billion in the fiscal year ended August 31, 2024. Last year, the company opened 56 stores, and operates 400 stores of various sizes and 174 planning and ordering points.
In 2025, KSG Agro will renew the pig population at its pig farm in Dnipro region by more than 3.5 thousand sows, with total investments in pig rejuvenation exceeding EUR1 million, the company’s press service reports.
“Rejuvenation of the pig population by replenishing sows is very important for us, as it allows us to significantly improve the quality characteristics of the herd. As a result, we will get better piglet health and improved taste characteristics of pork. In general, we expect to increase the efficiency of pig production by 15%,” explained Sergiy Kasyanov, Chairman of the Board of Directors of KSG Agro.
The process of reviewing proposals from international producers of various purebred pig genetics is currently underway, from which the most optimal parameters for the holding’s herd will be selected.
KSG Agro added that the total number of pigs in the holding is currently more than 60 thousand.
The vertically integrated KSG Agro holding is engaged in pig production, as well as the production, storage, processing, and sale of grains and oilseeds. Its land bank in Dnipropetrovska and Khersonska oblasts is about 21 thousand hectares.
According to the agricultural holding, it is one of the top 5 pork producers in Ukraine. In 2023, it launched a “network-centric” strategy, which will move from developing a large location to a number of smaller pig farms located in different regions of Ukraine.
In January-September 2023, KSG Agro received $1,336 million in net profit, which is almost 14 times more than in the same period in 2022. Its EBITDA for the three quarters of this year increased by 67% to $4.5 million, and its profit from sales increased by 16% to $11.9 million.
In January-March 2024, KSG Agro agricultural holding reduced its net profit by 37% to $0.96 million, while revenue decreased by 2% to $5.02 million. Its EBITDA decreased by 2% to $1.83 million.
The German scaffolding systems manufacturer Layher will soon open a commercial site for renting scaffolding for Ukrainian customers and begin design preparations for full-scale production of equipment in the Chortkiv West industrial park (Ternopil region), according to Chortkiv Mayor Volodymyr Shmatko.
“Layher, a German company and world leader in the production of scaffolding systems, is entering Ukraine. Foreign investors have decided to start their operations in Ukraine from the city of Chortkiv,” he wrote on his Facebook page.
According to his information, Ivan Batryn, a resident of Chortkiv, became the company’s director of operations in Ukraine.
As reported, Chortkiv-West, registered in October 2019, was created on a land plot of 87.684 hectares, with a declared term of operation of 30 years.
The functional purpose of the park is metalworking and machine building, including the production of automotive components, electrical engineering and instrumentation, woodworking and furniture industry.
Up to 7,300 jobs can be created in the park.
According to opendatabot, LAYER Ukraine LLC was registered in Kyiv in early 2023, with the main activity being the production of building metal structures. The founder and 100% owner of the company is the Lithuanian company UAB Leyer Baltic.
LAYHER is a global leader in scaffolding for construction, public events, aviation and chemical industries, producing, among other things, facade and modular scaffolding, Keder XL temporary roofs, specialized stages and stands, and aluminum beams.
The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) has strengthened the official hryvnia exchange rate against the U.S. dollar by 17 kopecks on Friday, after the official hryvnia exchange rate was raised by another 7 kopecks at the end of trading on Monday – to 41.5554 UAH/$1, according to the data on the regulator’s website.
The NBU set the reference rate at 41.5959 UAH/$1 at 12:00 p.m. Monday against 41.6644 UAH/$1 on Friday.
“The dollar exchange rate may fluctuate in the range of 41.8-42.5 UAH/$1. The NBU continues to actively restrain sharp fluctuations, as evidenced by the sale of currency from reserves, and large inflationary risks are not expected in the coming month,” analysts at currency exchange market operator KYT Group shared their expectations for the coming weeks in a February review.
However, among the current risks they name further growth of dollar rate in case of change of policy of the Federal Reserve System (FRS), or sharp fluctuations on external markets, as well as the probability of short-term “jumps” of the rate, as a response to any news about the delay of international aid.
Analysts expect a gradual weakening of the hryvnia to 44 UAH/$1 during the first half of the year, which may be due to increased import purchases in the spring, worsening inflation expectations, and as a consequence, an accelerated weakening of the national currency.
Among other factors of such a forecast is a greater demand for currency in Ukraine due to the expected transition of the Federal Reserve System to a softer interest rate policy. Additional risks, according to KYT Group experts, may be the deterioration of the economic situation, or a shortage of financial aid.
“If the current macroeconomic picture persists, the dollar exchange rate may reach UAH 45/$1 before the end of the year, although this scenario depends entirely on the success of the government’s economic policy and the stability and sufficiency of the inflow of external financing,” the analysts summarized.
As reported, the Cabinet of Ministers has set the annual average of the official exchange rate of the hryvnia to the U.S. dollar in the state budget of 2025 at the level of 45 UAH/$1.
In the 2024 budget, the government budgeted an annual average of 40.7 UAH/$1, and at the end of the year – 42.1 UAH/$1. The hryvnia weakened by 10.6%, or by UAH 4.02 to UAH 42.0390/$1 at the official exchange rate last year.
Ukraine’s international reserves as of February 1, 2025, according to preliminary data, amounted to $43 billion 3.1 million, in January they decreased by 1.8%, or $785 million, and net international reserves (NIR) – by $0.79 billion, or 2.7% – to $28.313 billion.
Source: https://interfax.com.ua/news/projects/1047722.html
On February 10 this year, the first freight train was sent from China to Afghanistan via a new direct rail route connecting the two countries through Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. The train, carrying 55 containers of communication equipment manufactured by the Chinese telecommunications concern ZTE, departed from Chongqing’s Tuanjetsun station to Afghanistan’s Hairaton.
The train will cross the border at the Khorgos checkpoint in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and reach its destination in Khairaton via Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.
The entire journey is expected to take 12-15 days. “By using the direct rail freight transportation scheme, transportation time will be reduced by 3-5 days compared to road transportation, and logistics costs are expected to be reduced by 15-20%. This will strengthen the safety and efficiency of transportation and supply of goods,” said Liu Jianfeng, a ZTE employee.
The opening of the direct freight route will further strengthen trade and economic cooperation and exchanges between Chongqing and Afghanistan, as well as with other Central Asian countries.
