Following the agreements between President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky and President of the Republic of Cote d’Ivoire Alassane Ouattara, Deputy Head of the Office of the Head of State Ihor Brusilo held an online meeting with Minister of Economy and Development of Cote d’Ivoire Niale Kaba.
The key topic of discussion was activation of mutually beneficial cooperation in promising sectors of economy: agricultural industry, trade, infrastructure projects and professional training of Ivorian students in Ukrainian higher educational institutions. Côte d’Ivoire expressed readiness for partnership, in particular due to the beginning of direct dialog between the sectoral ministries.
Special attention is paid to the expansion of the legal framework of bilateral relations in trade and economic sphere. This will ensure favorable interaction in many sectors.
In addition, Brusilo and Kaba agreed on practical steps aimed at the implementation of the agreements reached.
The meeting was also attended by: Deputy Minister of Economy of Ukraine Taras Kachka, Deputy Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food Oksana Osmachko, Director General of the Directorate for Foreign Policy and International Military-Technical Cooperation of the Office of the President Ruslan Kurochenko and representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
In January-February this year, Ukraine increased exports of ferroalloys in physical terms by 35.5 times compared to the same period last year, up to 19.170 thousand tons from 540 tons.
According to statistics released by the State Customs Service (SCS) on Tuesday, exports of ferroalloys increased 11 times in monetary terms to $19.775 million.
The main exports were to Algeria (32.16% of supplies in monetary terms), Poland (25.61%) and Italy (18.92%).
In addition, Ukraine imported 7.962 thousand tons of these products in 2 months of 2015, a decrease of 53.5% compared to January-February 2014. In monetary terms, imports fell by 49.8% to $14.210 million.
Imports were mainly from Norway (32.25%), Kazakhstan (16.80%) and Armenia (7.62%).
As reported, Pokrovsky Mining and Processing Plant (PGOK, formerly Ordzhonikidze Mining and Processing Plant) and Marganetsky Mining and Processing Plant (MGOK, both in Dnipropetrovska oblast), both part of Privat Group, stopped mining and processing of crude manganese ore in late October and early November 2023, while NFP and ZFP stopped smelting ferroalloys. In the summer of 2024, ferroalloy plants resumed production at a minimal level.
In 2024, Ukraine reduced exports of ferroalloys in physical terms by 4.45 times compared to 2023 – to 77.316 thousand tons from 344.173 thousand tons, while in monetary terms, exports decreased by 3.4 times – to $88.631 million from $297.595 million. The main exports were to Poland (27.40% of supplies in monetary terms), Turkey (21.53%) and Italy (19.82%).
In addition, last year Ukraine imported 82.259 thousand tons of these products compared to 14.203 thousand tons in 2023 (an increase of 5.8 times). In monetary terms, imports increased by 3.3 times to $140.752 million from $42.927 million. Imports were carried out mainly from Poland (32.71%), Norway (19.55%) and Kazakhstan (13.90%).
Prior to the nationalization of the financial institution, PrivatBank organized the business of ZZF, NZF, Stakhanovsky ZF (which is on the NKT), Pokrovske and Marganetske GOKs. Nikopol Ferroalloy Plant is controlled by EastOne Group, established in the fall of 2007 as a result of the restructuring of Interpipe Group, and Privat Group.
Energoatom has announced the actual completion of the splash pool construction project at South Ukrainian NPP, which will help increase electricity production at the plant.
“We have actually completed one of the priority areas of work – the construction of splash pools in full. Now we are putting them into operation, which will increase electricity production at existing facilities by reducing the temperature of the water in the reservoir, which we use to cool the condensers of NPP turbines,” said Energoatom CEO Petro Kotin during a working visit to the South Ukrainian Energy Complex on Tuesday.
According to him, the completion of the work will also help improve the environmental situation in the region where the plant is located.
Energoatom currently operates nine power units at South Ukraine, Rivne and Khmelnytsky NPPs with a total capacity of 7,880 MW located in the government-controlled territory.
Zaporizhzhia NPP with six VVER-1000 power units with a total capacity of 6,000 MW has not been generating electricity since September 11, 2022, after its occupation on March 3-4, 2022.
In Ukraine, the domestic processing of soybeans continues to demonstrate the high rates, in particular, in February 2025 the country processed the absolute monthly maximum of 320-330 thsd tonnes of soybeans, up 27% compared to January of the current year, APK-Inform news agency reported.
The analysts noted that in 2024/25 marketing year (MY, September-February) Ukraine processed the record almost 1.45 mln tonnes, up 57% compared to the same period last season and 43% compared to the previous high of 1 mln tonnes in the first half of 2019/20 season.
“Such a significant increase is primarily due to the fact that large mills started processing soybeans due to difficulties with sunflower procurement. However, the active export of soybean meal against the background of the attractive price for importers contributes to the high processing rates for several months in a row,” the experts explained.
APK-Inform forecasts that in total, in the season-2024/25 Ukraine can process up to 2.2-2.3 mln tonnes of soybeans, which is about 36% of the total supply of the crop, compared to 33-35% in the previous two seasons. At the same time, the share of soybean exports, despite the increase in physical terms, may decline to 57% in MY compared to 58-60% in previous seasons.
Prospects for soybean processing in the second half of the current season look a bit pessimistic, analysts say.
The world market expects a record soybean harvest in South America, increased processing in Argentina and increased supply in the soybean meal sector, the balance of which has been overloaded in the last few seasons. Increased tensions in trade relations between the US and the EU, as well as tariffs imposed in the soybean sector by China, may contribute to the continued high demand in the foreign market for Ukrainian raw materials, which encourages traders to increase sales of raw materials that will not be processed, the analytical agency explained.
In January-February 2025, imports of passenger cars, including cargo and passenger vans and racing cars (UKT FEA code 8703), decreased by 7.8% in monetary terms compared to the same period last year to $719.92 million.
According to statistics released by the State Customs Service (SCS) of Ukraine, in February, imports of passenger cars to Ukraine were 3% higher than in February 2014, up to $385.94 million, while in January there was a 17.8% drop compared to January 2013.
In January-February of this year, the top three largest suppliers of cars to Ukraine were Germany, the United States and Japan, while last year it was the United States, China and Germany.
In particular, car deliveries from Germany increased by almost 40% to $152.15 million, and their share in the structure of car imports amounted to 21.13% compared to 13.94% a year earlier.
Ukraine imported $122.13 million worth of cars from the United States (15% less). Japan, which last year was not among the top three countries with the largest car imports, supplied $79 million worth of cars in two months this year.
Notably, China is not among the top three, with imports amounting to $114.88 million a year ago (second place after the United States).
In general, imports of passenger cars from other countries amounted to $366.63 million in the period under review, compared to $413.87 million in January-February last year.
At the same time, in January-February this year, Ukraine exported such vehicles for only $1.9 million, in particular to the UAE (67% of exports), the Czech Republic and Moldova, while a year earlier the country sold them to foreign markets for $3.8 million, mainly to Canada (47.7%), the United States (26.8%) and Moldova.
According to the State Customs Service, in the total structure of imports of goods to Ukraine in January-February, the share of passenger cars was 6.37%, in the structure of exports – 0.03%.
As reported, in 2024, Ukraine imported passenger cars worth $4.385 billion, 8% more than a year earlier, and exported $10.1 million (2.7 times less).
