President of the European Council Antonio Costa and President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen will visit Uzbekistan on April 3-4 to participate in the first EU-Central Asia Summit.
The summit will be chaired by Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev and will be attended by the leaders of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan.
During the summit, the EU is expected to reaffirm its commitment to expanding cooperation in areas of mutual interest, including transport and digital interconnectivity – within the region and with the EU, strategic raw materials, economy and security, and the transition to clean and efficient energy sources.
“The first EU-Central Asia Summit will strengthen our commitment to work together for peace, security and sustainable development, in full respect of international law,” said António Costa.
After the full-scale invasion and blocking of seaports in 2022, Ukraine began to actively use land routes for exporting agricultural products, which significantly reduced the transit of agricultural products through the EU, according to the Ukrainian Agribusiness Club (UCAB).
Analysts noted that the maximum volume exported across the borders of neighboring countries was 3.7 million tons of grains, oilseeds and their products in August 2023, when the “grain corridor” had already stopped working and Ukraine’s own sea route had not yet started working.
Experts stated that the structure of exports by country was as follows: Romania – 73% of the total exported volume (thanks to the seaport of Constanta), Poland – 14%, Hungary – 9%, Moldova – 2%, and Slovakia – 2%.
“Establishing its own export route has allowed Ukraine to reduce transit through neighboring countries. Over the past 6 months of 2024, the average monthly volume of exports through neighboring countries decreased by 3.7 times compared to the peak figure and averaged 1.0 million tons of grains, oilseeds and processed products,” the UCAB emphasized.
At the same time, in December 2024, compared to the peak, exports through the Romanian border decreased by 8.2 times to 0.3 million tons, Polish – by 1.9 times to 0.3 million tons, Hungarian – by 1.9 times to 0.2 million tons, Moldovan – by 8.9 times to 0.01 million tons and Slovak – by 12.0 times to 0.01 million tons.
As of December 31, 2024, 4 million 260.08 thousand non-EU citizens who fled Ukraine as a result of the Russian invasion on February 24, 2022, had temporary protection status in the EU, which is 25.59 thousand, or 0.6%, more than a month earlier, Eurostat reports.
“The largest absolute increase in the number of beneficiaries was observed in Germany (+8830; +0.8%), Poland (+3705; +0.4%) and the Czech Republic (+3435; +0.9%),” the agency said.
It is noted that the number of people under temporary protection in December decreased only in Denmark (-1,995; -5.1%), Italy (-1,310; -0.8%) and France (-595; -1.0%).
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 161.45 thousand by the end of 2024, or 27.3% of the total number of beneficiaries in the EU.
The top three also includes Poland – 991.63 thousand, or 23.3%, and the Czech Republic – 388.63 thousand, or 9.1%.
Spain (226.62 thousand), Romania (179.72 thousand), and Italy (163.10 thousand) follow with a significant lag.
According to Eurostat, in general, in 2024, the number of migrants from Ukraine with temporary protection status decreased by 52.14 thousand people, but at the end of 2023, the data from Switzerland, where 68.05 thousand such citizens are currently staying, was not taken into account.
In Germany, in 2024, the number of refugees from Ukraine with temporary protection status decreased by 89.80 thousand due to the data update at the end of 2023, while in Poland it increased by 36.84 thousand, in the Czech Republic – by 15.59 thousand, in Spain – by 31.70 thousand, in Romania – by 33.87 thousand, and in Italy – by 1.73 thousand.
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 2024 was observed in the Czech Republic (35.7), Poland (27.1) and Estonia (25.8), while the corresponding figure at the EU level is 9.5.
It is also worth noting that at the end of 2024, Ukrainian citizens accounted for more than 98.3% of temporary protection beneficiaries. Adult women accounted for almost half (44.8%) of temporary protection beneficiaries in the EU, children for almost a third (31.9%), while adult men accounted for less than a quarter (23.2%) of the total. A year earlier, the share of women was 46.2%, children 33.2% and adult men 20.6%.
More than 100 thousand people with temporary protection status at the end of 2024 were also in Slovakia – 131.53 thousand, the Netherlands – 121.30 thousand and Ireland – 109.99 thousand.
Between 50 thousand and 100 thousand of them were in Belgium – 87.24 thousand, Austria – 85.56 thousand, Norway – 78.77 thousand, Finland – 69.39 thousand, Bulgaria – 68.94 thousand, Switzerland – 68.05 thousand, Portugal – 65.29 thousand and France – 58.53 thousand (data on children are mostly not included – Eurostat).
This is followed by Lithuania – 48.25 thousand, Latvia – 48.09 thousand, Sweden – 46.41 thousand, Hungary – 39.17 thousand, Denmark – 36.92 thousand, Greece – 32.537 thousand, Estonia – 35.44 thousand, Croatia – 25.95 thousand, Cyprus – 22.16 thousand, Iceland – 4.2, 22 thousand and Liechtenstein – 0.70 thousand.
Eurostat clarified that all 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 January 16, 2025, was estimated at 6.303 million, and in the world at 6.863 million, which is 49 thousand more than as of December 16.
In Ukraine itself, according to the latest UN data, there are 3.6 million internally displaced persons (IDPs), approximately 160,000 people 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 2025 outflow forecast at 0.2 million.
Source: http://relocation.com.ua/the-number-of-refugees-from-ukraine-in-eu-es/
Apparent steel consumption (including total steel production, imports and exports) in the European Union in 2024, according to preliminary estimates by Eurofer, fell by 2.3% to 127 million tons.
This is worse than the association’s previously published expectations, according to which the decline could be 1.8%. In 2023, steel consumption in the EU fell by 5.8% to 130 million tons.
According to Eurofer’s report, in 2025, the recovery in apparent steel consumption will be slower than the association had previously predicted – the growth is expected to be 2.2% against 3.8% previously expected, provided that the situation in the industry develops positively and global tensions ease, which is currently unpredictable.
Consumption may reach about 130 million tons in 2025 and 133 million tons in 2026.
The overall dynamics of steel demand in the European region remains highly uncertain. No improvement in apparent steel consumption is expected until the first quarter of 2025, and consumption volumes will remain well below pre-pandemic levels, the association notes.
In the third quarter of 2024, apparent steel consumption continued to decline (-0.9% after -1.4% in the previous quarter) and amounted to 30.4 million tons.
Data for the fourth quarter will be published later. Real steel consumption in 2024, according to preliminary data, decreased by 3.8% in the EU, and in 2025 it is expected to recover moderately by 1%, while previously it was forecast to grow by only 0.6%. In 2026, real steel consumption could grow by another 1.9%.
In 2024-2025 marketing year (MY, July-June), Ukraine remained the main supplier of rapeseed to the European Union, supplying 3.4 mln tonnes of the seed, up 5% compared to the same period of the previous year, APK-Inform reported citing the German Grain and Oilseed Farmers’ Association (UFOP).
“With the volume of 2.2 mln tons and the import share of 63%, Ukraine remains the most important country of origin, as in previous years. This is slightly higher than the last year’s volume of 2.1 mln tons,” the analysts said.
At the same time, the second wave of oilseed imports from Australia is expected in the second half of the season, which has already supplied 875 thsd tonnes of rapeseed to the EU market by mid-January. According to the research of Agrarmarkt Informations-Gesellschaft (mbH), this is about 19% more than in the same period last season.
“With the share of almost 26%, Australia is the second most important supplier of rapeseed to the EU, followed by Canada – 144 thsd tonnes,” the report says.
It is added that the volume of shipments from Canada increased more than three times compared to the previous year, although it remains at a rather low level. This is due to the fact that Canada mainly grows GM rapeseed varieties, while the EU has restrictions on the use of oil produced from them. Therefore, Canadian imports are mainly intended for biofuel production, APK-Inform added.
The Czech government is seeking support from other European Union countries for a new ammunition initiative after implementing a similar initiative in 2024, German N-TV reports.
“This is a matter of political will, and if many EU member states rejoin our initiative, we can achieve a lot for Ukraine,” Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky said in an interview with the German news network (RND).
“We are currently looking at how we can finance the new ammunition initiative, and then we will see how many rounds of ammunition we can get for this money,” the Czech foreign minister added.
As reported, Defense Minister Jana Černohová announced the second project to purchase ammunition for Ukraine under the working title Initiative 2025 back in July last year. Deník N reported at the time that five companies would participate in the project: Czechoslovak Group, STV Group, Omnipol with Ompo Holding, Colt CZ Group SE, owned by Česká zbrojovka, and the DSS arms company.
Under the previous Czech ammunition initiative, Ukraine was provided with approximately half a million pieces of artillery ammunition. A total of 18 countries joined the initiative.
