Bus registrations (new, imported used, and domestic resales) in March 2026 rose by 41.8% compared to February of the same year—to 553 units—though this is three buses fewer than the figure for March 2025, according to the Automotive Market Research Institute (AMRI).
“Domestic resales remain the main channel for vehicle sales (355 transactions), showing a 47.9% increase compared to February. However, on an annual basis (compared to March 2025), the market still lags by 9.9%, which is a consequence of the high operating costs of outdated models,” reads a post on the IAM website.
The Mercedes-Benz Sprinter remains the leader in resales (72 transactions), which, according to experts, has effectively monopolized the niche of suburban and intercity express transportation. Second place goes to the VDL Citea (46 transactions), which, according to experts, indicates active turnover of used European low-floor buses in the domestic market.
Third and fourth places are held by the Ukrainian brands “Etalon” and “Bogdan”—with 21 and 20 transactions, respectively. They hold positions in the school and budget commuter transport segment.
The import segment for used buses in March grew by 26% compared to February 2026, reaching 97 units (102 units in March 2025). More than half of the top five registrations are accounted for by Daimler Group products—led by the Mercedes-Benz Sprinter (31 units), with the Cirato and Vario models in second and third place (12 and 7 units, respectively).
“With diesel priced at 90 UAH/liter, carriers are opting for Euro-5 and Euro-6 compliant vehicles, which is a necessary condition for maintaining profitability on routes,” the report states.
The new bus segment (imports and Ukrainian production) totaled 101 units in March—68% more than in March of last year, but, as noted by the IDA, the main trend was the growth in imports of new vehicles (53 units—four times more than in February 2026), which for the first time in a long time exceeded domestic production volumes (48 units).
According to experts, the Isuzu Citiport (20 units) became the market leader, indicating the implementation of targeted programs to renew city fleets. Second place went to the new Ford Transit (17 units), which are used as social and corporate transport. Next are the Ukrainian “Etalon” and “Bogdan” – 12 units each.
“Domestic manufacturers (BAZ, ”Bogdan,” Ataman, ZAZ) recorded a 20% decline in production in March compared to February. The majority of the vehicles produced are small-class suburban models, which are traditionally purchased with budget funds. The positive year-over-year trend (+71.4% compared to March 2025) indicates a gradual resumption of factory operations following last year’s stagnation,” experts note.
Metinvest B.V. (Netherlands), the parent company of the Metinvest mining and metallurgical group, has fully repaid $428 million in Eurobonds bearing an 8.5% annual interest rate, which matured on April 23, 2026.
“The Group has successfully completed the redemption of the 2026 bonds, marking another important milestone for Metinvest amid the war. The redemption was carried out using internal cash flow, specifically through the optimization of working capital,” Metinvest Group CEO Yuriy Ryzhenkov said in a statement on the company’s website on Thursday.
The CEO noted that to date, Metinvest has fully repaid three bond issues, with the total amount of payments on these instruments exceeding $1 billion.
“As market conditions improve, Metinvest will continue to explore opportunities to raise financing in the debt capital markets in line with its needs. This repayment confirms the Group’s disciplined approach to financial management and consistent fulfillment of its obligations to stakeholders,” Ryzhenkov emphasized.
According to the report, Metinvest reduced its total debt by 15% in 2025—from $1.705 billion to $1.441 billion—and is scheduled to repay $470 million in 2026, of which $428 million is due on the 2026 Eurobonds (the payment amount is stated excluding accrued interest, fees, commissions, and discounts, revolving trade finance, and lease obligations).
In 2027, Metinvest is to pay $351 million, of which $332 million is for the 2027 bonds with a 7.65% annual rate; in 2028 – $18 million; and $550 million in 2029, of which $500 million is for the 2029 Eurobonds with a rate of 7.75% per annum.
In the debt structure as of the end of last year, Eurobonds accounted for 88%, capital investment financing for 5%, trade financing for 2%, and other for 5%.
The European Union is interested in expanding the European railway network to Lviv, Kyiv, and Odesa while ensuring transport safety, said Magda Kopczyńska, Director-General of the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Mobility and Transport.
“In the medium term, I would like to see several European-gauge rail corridors running unimpeded from Poland all the way to Kyiv, from Prague to the southern route via Uzhhorod, and then all the way to Kyiv and Odesa,“ she said at the ”Ukraine-EU“ business summit in Brussels on Wednesday, according to a correspondent for the ”Interfax-Ukraine” agency.
Kopchynska noted that Ukraine has already very quickly built 22 km of European-gauge track from Chop to Uzhhorod, and the EU has allocated funds to Ukraine to begin construction of the line that will run to Lviv.
The European Commission representative emphasized that when planning new financial programs, the EU is increasingly encountering the principle of “dual use” of infrastructure—taking into account issues of proper functioning and safety of transport infrastructure.
“Now, based on Ukraine’s terrible experience, member states are much more aware that it is not enough to simply build something. We also need to make sure we know how to protect it,” she emphasized.
Kopchynska noted that over the past 10 years, there has been a growing recognition of the need to extend transport corridors beyond the EU’s borders, which has become the basis for expanding the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T) beyond 2022 to include Ukraine, specifically Odesa.
“We tried to convince member states 10 years ago that it might be a good idea for these corridors, which are located within the EU, to extend beyond the EU’s borders. This didn’t work until February 2022,” Kopchynska stated.
She drew particular attention to the role of the so-called “Solidarity Lanes,” which the EU introduced after the start of the full-scale war, when the operation of Ukrainian Black Sea ports was effectively blocked. According to her, these routes have proven their effectiveness and remain important for Ukraine and the world even after the reopening of Black Sea shipping.
“I think the situation is improving somewhat, but if you ask me whether everything is perfect and running smoothly, that’s not the case,” Kopchynska said, calling for the further development of the “Solidarity Lanes.”
In her view, the construction of border crossing infrastructure should be considered in a way that ensures maximum simplification, given that Ukraine is still not part of the Schengen Area.
Kopchynska emphasized that it is also necessary to develop inland waterways and operational seaports in the Black Sea.
“And yes, once airspace is open, we will also need developed airports in Ukraine,” added the Director-General of the Directorate for Mobility and Transport.
Schneider Electric, a global leader in energy technologies, today released new findings from its global Industrial AI in CPG Survey 2026, which indicate that consumer packaged goods (CPG) manufacturers expect a significant increase in production inefficiencies and cost pressures by 2030. Many are turning to industrial intelligence—the combination of AI, data, and automation—to strengthen their competitiveness in a decade of accelerated volatility.
Structural production costs are expected to rise through 2030
The survey shows that consumer packaged goods (CPG) manufacturers expect the margin crisis to accelerate: inefficiencies—including production delays, downtime, and equipment breakdowns—already account for approximately 20.3% of the final cost of goods produced. Respondents report that 15.2% of average production revenue is lost due to delays, downtime, rework, quality deviations, or inefficient use of assets.
These avoidable losses are expected to rise significantly—to 21.37% as early as next year and approach 29.14% by 2030.
Many CPG manufacturers are turning to industrial AI to curb the projected growth of such production losses.
Expectations for AI are rising rapidly, while readiness lags behind
Today, only one in eight (13%) consumer packaged goods (CPG) manufacturers report that AI is fully integrated into key operations and decision-making processes. By 2030, more than a third (37%) expect AI to become the backbone of their operations—a threefold increase in adoption in just four years.
Respondents also expect significant growth in the return on investment (ROI) delivered by AI:
• one-third (32.7%) expect a return of 50–74% on their AI projects by 2030
• nearly one-tenth (7.9%) forecast a return of over 100%, meaning that investments in AI will pay for themselves in less than a year
Such a level of efficiency is currently observed only in WEF Lighthouses[1] or autonomous factories.
In contrast, 70% of respondents note that the current return on investment in AI is less than 20%, with nearly a third (28.4%) reporting an ROI of 5% or lower, reflecting an industry that is currently deriving limited value from early implementations.
“Manufacturers predict a threefold increase in end-to-end AI adoption by 2030, along with a sharp rise in expected returns—to levels currently demonstrated only by the most advanced Lighthouses and autonomous factories,” said Neil Smith, president of Schneider Electric’s CPG division. “This gap between expectations and reality is the strongest signal of urgency we’ve seen in recent years. AI can only be transformative when it delivers true industrial intelligence: the ability to turn real-time operational data, modern automation, and AI into synchronized solutions that drive efficiency at scale. Many organizations still operate with outdated manufacturing sites, fragmented data, and legacy systems that limit the value and adoption of AI. Bridging this readiness gap is now a key competitiveness priority for the CPG sector.”
The barrier lies not in AI technology, but in the fundamental readiness to implement industrial intelligence.
Despite high confidence in the potential of AI, survey respondents consistently identify structural, rather than technological, barriers as the main obstacles to scaling:
• a shortage of skills in AI or data science (43.0%)
• Outdated automation systems and infrastructure (37.5%)
• Lack of contextualized operational data (36.3%)
• Resistance from staff (25.7%)
All these factors outweigh concerns about cybersecurity or regulatory compliance (21.7%).
“The results are clear: achieving the transformational return on investment expected from industrial AI in just four years requires a qualitative shift in collaboration, transparency, and shared standards,” said Cecile Versellino, Senior Vice President of Services for Schneider Electric’s Industrial Automation division. “Through SE Advisory Services, we are already applying our ‘Lighthouse’ expertise in manufacturing alongside customers worldwide, helping them turn digital ambitions into measurable results. We believe that the exchange and implementation of best practices and industry expertise will catalyze the next wave of industrial digital transformation.”
A new white paper: “Beyond the Hype: Practical AI for Competitive Consumer Goods Manufacturing” published today by Schneider Electric in collaboration with AVEVA, provides recommendations for the successful implementation of AI in the food and beverage sectors.
It outlines the path to autonomous operations through industrial data, modular automation, electrification, and the stages of industrial AI implementation.
Notes to editors:
• A statistically representative survey was conducted by Censuswide among a sample of 1,453 respondents (25% C-suite executives, 75% manufacturing managers and decision-makers) in the life sciences, food, and beverage sectors across 14 countries, including the United Kingdom, the United States, Italy, Germany, Sweden, Norway, Finland, France, Denmark, Saudi Arabia, Austria, Ireland, Switzerland, and Egypt. The data was collected between February 26, 2026, and March 24, 2026. Censuswide adheres to and engages members of the Market Research Society and is guided by the MRS Code of Conduct and ESOMAR principles. Censuswide is also a member of the British Polling Council.
About Schneider Electric
Schneider Electric is a global leader in energy technologies, driving efficiency and sustainability through the electrification, automation, and digitalization of industry, business, and residential spaces. The company’s technologies enable buildings, data centers, factories, infrastructure, and power grids to function as open, interconnected ecosystems, enhancing productivity, resilience, and sustainability.
The company’s portfolio includes smart devices, software-defined architectures, AI-based systems, digital services, and professional consulting services. With 160,000 employees and 1 million partners in over 100 countries, Schneider Electric consistently ranks among the world’s most sustainable companies.
Learn more at https://www.se.com/ua/uk/
[1] McKinsey, “How manufacturing’s Lighthouses are capturing the full value of AI”, 2024. Source: https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/operations/our-insights/how-manufacturings-lighthouses-are-capturing-the-full-value-of-ai
Ukraine is seeing a steady trend toward reducing acreage for grain crops in favor of oilseeds, driven by a significant difference in their profit margins, said Maksym Kharchenko, an analyst at the information and analytical agency “UkrAgroConsult.”
“The profitability of wheat production, and of grains in general, is currently lower than that of oilseeds. This trend has been clearly evident over the past few seasons. While before the full-scale invasion, the area under wheat was significantly larger than that under sunflowers, the situation has changed since 2023: sunflower crops in Ukraine have become more stable and extensive than grain crops,” he said during the Black Sea Grain.Kyiv conference on Wednesday.
According to UkrAgroConsult, the profitability of wheat cultivation in the current season is less than 30%, while for sunflowers this figure reaches about 50%. The profitability of other oilseed crops—rapeseed and soybeans—remains at a similarly high level.
The analyst emphasized that despite the loss of some territories, the area under oilseed crops has not only recovered but, in some segments, has exceeded pre-war levels. This reflects farmers’ strategic shift away from grains in favor of more profitable crops.
According to the infographic, the crop mix of major export crops in Ukraine is shifting in line with profitability indicators. Until 2022, wheat led in terms of acreage, but its unprofitability—at -14.9% in 2022 and -1.8% in 2023—forced farmers to rethink their priorities. The graph shows a so-called “inflection point” in the 2022/23 season, after which sunflowers finally surpassed wheat. Currently, it offers the highest profitability at 48%, while the profitability of wheat and corn stands at only 26% and 23%, respectively, which serves as an incentive for farmers to further expand the acreage under oilseed crops.
“We are seeing an increase in production across all oilseed crops. In particular, we expect the sunflower harvest (in the 2026/2027 season – IF-U) to grow to 13.7 million tons due to better yields and increased acreage,“ forecasts ”UkrAgroConsult.”
Schneider Electric, a global leader in energy technologies, showcased new developments in its strategic partnership with Microsoft at Hannover Messe, demonstrating how their combined technologies help manufacturers modernize operations, accelerate engineering processes, and enhance sustainability.
Schneider Electric provides the industrial foundation for this collaboration through EcoStruxure Automation Expert—its open, software-defined automation platform that operates seamlessly in on-premises, edge, and hybrid environments. Microsoft extends this foundation with Azure cloud services and artificial intelligence solutions that analyze and optimize industrial processes. The result is a unified approach to agent-driven manufacturing, open automation, and end-to-end sustainability.
Today, manufacturers face increasing product variability, supply chain volatility, and heightened pressure to modernize safely. Schneider Electric addresses these challenges by combining engineering design with real-time operations. Their joint platform enables teams to standardize reusable logic, validate automation through simulation, ensure traceability throughout the entire lifecycle, and scale interoperable operations across different sites and equipment.
Schneider Electric is collaborating with Microsoft to develop the next generation of agent-based, software-defined manufacturing—an integrated workflow spanning design, engineering, construction, commissioning, and operations. At its core is EcoStruxure Automation Expert, which allows manufacturers to create, model, test, and deploy automation logic once and run it anywhere without additional reconfiguration. Schneider Electric’s deep expertise in safety, compliance, and industrial integration ensures reliability in highly regulated environments.
“From agent-based design to software-defined operations, Microsoft and Schneider Electric demonstrate a unified, interoperable workflow that enables the consistent verification, simulation, and deployment of automation logic both in the cloud and at the edge,” said Gwenel Yue, Executive Vice President of Industrial Automation at Schneider Electric.
While traditional automation software requires separate tools and handoffs between stages—design, simulation, commissioning, and operations—the shared platform unifies them into a single, transparent workflow. Specialized AI agents, coordinated by a centralized control system, automate routine engineering tasks and verify logic before implementation, reducing time from design to launch and increasing efficiency on the first attempt. Schneider Electric’s industrial copilot for manufacturers, powered by Azure AI, is already delivering results in the field: engineering teams report a 50% reduction in time spent configuring control systems and preparing documentation, and changes to production lines that previously took weeks are now completed in hours.
In one project to implement autonomous green hydrogen production in real-world conditions in collaboration with H2E Power, an Indian pioneer in the green hydrogen sector, the platform delivered over 6,000 hours of stable autonomous operation in one of the most demanding industrial environments — high-temperature solid oxide electrolysis for green hydrogen production — reducing the levelized cost of hydrogen by 10%, equivalent to approximately €500,000 per year for a typical 10 MW plant.
“Thanks to agent-based design, we close the loop from engineering concept to operational reality by automating solutions, ensuring early validation, and delivering reusable automation packages that Schneider Electric can model and consistently deploy both in the cloud and at the edge,” said Dayan Rodriguez, Corporate Vice President of Manufacturing and Mobility at Microsoft.
At their booths at Hannover Messe 2026, Schneider Electric and Microsoft presented hands-on demonstrations of early-stage joint innovation capabilities, including live demos, engineering AI, and an ecosystem of open standards, as part of a large-scale program to develop the next generation of manufacturing.
About Schneider Electric
Schneider Electric is a global leader in energy technologies, driving efficiency and sustainability through the electrification, automation, and digitalization of industry, business, and residential spaces. The company’s technologies enable buildings, data centers, factories, infrastructure, and power grids to function as open, interconnected ecosystems, enhancing productivity, resilience, and sustainability.
The company’s portfolio includes smart devices, software-defined architectures, AI-based systems, digital services, and professional consulting services. With 160,000 employees and 1 million partners in over 100 countries, Schneider Electric consistently ranks among the world’s most sustainable companies.
Learn more at https://www.se.com/ua/uk/
