Ukraine exported 99,300 tons of bioethanol in 2024, with private producers accounting for 62% of this export, and three private bioethanol plants accounting for 38,100 tons According to Nina Yuzhanina, a member of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Finance, Tax and Customs Policy, the key factors for the development of bioethanol production in Ukraine were the replacement of Russian methanol with Ukrainian bioethanol by oil and gas companies.
She noted that of the 17 bioethanol plants operating in Ukraine, with a production capacity of over 420,000 tons per year, 12 have been privatized in recent years.
According to her, the key factors for the development of bioethanol production in Ukraine were the replacement of Russian methanol with Ukrainian bioethanol by oil and gas companies; the supply of consolidated batches of bioethanol (min. 10,000 tons) to the EU market; logistical features of bioethanol exports by tankers to EU oil refineries with return delivery of gasoline to Ukraine; the abolition of quotas on bioethanol exports to the EU (as of today, the quota of 100,000 tons of ethyl alcohol per year has already been restored) and the introduction of a mandatory 5% bioethanol blend in gasoline in Ukraine.
The MP also criticized the government for failing to protect foreign markets for one of Ukraine’s most promising processing industries.
As reported, the European Commission has approved quotas for Ukrainian agricultural products, which will be in effect from June 6 until the end of 2025 as part of the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area Agreement. According to a document published on the EU website, by the end of 2025, Ukraine will be able to supply the EU market under the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area in a 7/12 month regime (7 out of 12 months of the year) with wheat, flour, and meslin – 583,330 tons , corn – 379,167 thousand tons, barley – 204,167 thousand tons, poultry meat – 52,511 thousand tons, beef – 7 thousand tons, eggs – 3,500 tons, milk and cream – 5,833 tons, dry milk – 2,917 tons, butter – 1,750 tons.
In 2024, Ukraine exhausted its quota for bioethanol supplies to EU markets, which amounted to 100,000 tons per year, for the first time since signing the Association Agreement with the EU. Under the updated terms of 7/12, Ukrainian producers will be able to supply 58,000 tons of bioethanol to the EU market by the end of 2025.
As of June 9, Ukraine had exported 38.777 million tons of grains and legumes since the beginning of the 2024-2025 marketing year (July-June), of which 475,000 tons were shipped this month, according to the press service of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food, citing data from the State Customs Service. were shipped this month, according to the press service of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food, citing data from the State Customs Service.
According to the report, as of June 12 last year, total shipments amounted to 48.381 million tons, including 1.449 million tons in June.
At the same time, in terms of crops, since the beginning of the current season, 15.015 million tons of wheat (152,000 tons in June), 2.305 million tons of barley (0), 10,800 tons of rye (0), corn – 20.89 million tons (320 thousand tons).
Total exports of Ukrainian flour since the beginning of the season as of June 9 are estimated at 66.1 thousand tons (in June – 1.2 thousand tons), including wheat flour – 61.7 thousand tons (1.1 thousand tons).
The Vitagro group of companies, which already has one biomethane plant with an annual capacity of 3 million cubic meters in the Khmelnytskyi region, intends to build two or three more such plants in a year and a half, each costing EUR6-6.5 million, according to the company’s director of development and investment, Serhii Savchuk.
“We plan to build two or three more plants with a capacity of 3 million cubic meters each. We estimate the cost of one plant at EUR 6-6.5 million. We will need about 1.5 years to do this,” Savchuk said in a comment to EnergoReform on the sidelines of the Solar Agro Conference organized by the Solar Energy Association of Ukraine.
He did not specify the details of biomethane exports from the first plant, noting that after a test delivery in February, “everything the plant produces is sold to a number of countries, including Germany and the UK, at market prices.”
During his speech at the conference, he suggested that the company may work with Ukrainian banks to expand its biomethane capacity.
“Today, our plant with a capacity of 3 million cubic meters of biomethane, which is produced from manure from our livestock complexes, is fully operational. We will build a pipeline, Ukrgasbank is here, you can pay attention to us,” he said to conference participant Mykola Alferov, deputy director of the SME Department at UGB.
Savchuk also noted that during the war, the group launched a bioethanol plant in the Ternopil region by reconstructing an alcohol plant it privatized at the end of 2022, which cost EUR20 million.
“We invested EUR 20 million, completely re-equipped the distillery, and now have 25,000 tons of bioethanol for export from the processing of 85,000 tons of corn,” explained the director of development and investment at Vitagro.
In a comment to Energorforma, Savchuk expressed hope that cooperation will eventually be established for the sale of bioethanol to fuel companies in Ukraine, which from May 1 must sell gasoline containing at least 5% of this substance, but do not mix the product here, instead importing it ready-made from Europe.
He also shared his experience of installing SES groups on farms for their own consumption, which he called “an absolutely effective investment.”
“Seven solar stations for our own consumption were installed in a few months, and we have developed an appetite for a second phase, so we want to launch separate complexes both on the roof and on the side. This is economics, this is ecology, this is the ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) trend, which is very relevant. We are a good example for the development of SES for our own consumption, and in the future there will be energy storage,” Savchuk said about Vitagro’s plans.
As reported in February 2025, Vitagro announced its intention to reach the planned annual capacity of the biomethane plant of 3 million cubic meters in 2025 and, if exports are successful, to build two more plants (in the Khmelnytskyi and Rivne regions) to increase production and exports.
At that time, it was indicated that the group of companies was considering the option of attracting foreign investors to its capital.
The company expected that the EUR6 million invested in the construction of the first biomethane plant in the Khmelnytskyi region would pay off in five years, but if the market continued to grow, it would pay off sooner. The company’s cost price for biomethane was stated at over EUR 500 per 1,000 cubic meters.
In February, the chairman of the board of the Bioenergy Association of Ukraine, Georgy Geletukha, noted that the average price of biomethane for export to Europe could be approximately EUR 900 per thousand cubic meters.
Agroholding Vitagro exported its first batch of biomethane in 67,000 cubic meters (destination country – Germany) on February 6, 2025.
The Vitagro group of companies is engaged in the production and processing of agricultural crops, in particular fruits and vegetables, dairy farming, and pig breeding. The group cultivates about 85,000 hectares of land in the Khmelnytskyi, Ternopil, and Rivne regions. In 2022, it acquired the Marylivsky Distillery (Nagirnyanka village, Ternopil region) from Ukrspirt.
According to the Unified State Register of Legal Entities and Individual Entrepreneurs, the ultimate beneficiary of the investment company Vitagro is People’s Deputy Serhiy Labazuk (parliamentary faction “For the Future”).
Imports of goods to Ukraine in January-May 2025 reached $31.3 billion, which is 13.8% more than in the same period of 2024, but exports remained at the same level as in the same period last year, at $16.9 billion ($16.8 billion in 2024), according to the State Customs Service of Ukraine.
“Taxable imports amounted to $23.8 billion, accounting for 76% of total imports. The tax burden per 1 kg of taxable imports in January-May 2025 was $0.51/kg,” according to a publication on the agency’s Telegram channel on Friday.
The leaders among importing countries have remained unchanged for the last three months: China – $6.5 billion, Poland – $2.9 billion, and Germany – $2.6 billion.
For the second month in a row, the top three exporting countries are Poland ($2 billion), Turkey ($1.4 billion), and Italy ($1 billion).
In the total volume of goods imported in January-May 2025, 68% were machinery, equipment, and transport—$11.9 billion (with customs clearance of these goods, 75.6 billion UAH, or 29% of customs payments, were paid to the budget), chemical products – $5.2 billion (UAH 41 billion and 15%, respectively), and fuel and energy – $4 billion (UAH 72.6 billion and 27%).
The top three most exported goods from Ukraine traditionally included food products – $9.7 billion, metals and metal products – $1.9 billion, and machinery, equipment, and transport – $1.5 billion.
According to the State Customs Service, in the first five months of 2025, UAH 121.6 million was paid to the budget during customs clearance of exports subject to export duties.
As of June 4, Ukraine had exported 38.505 million tons of grains and legumes since the beginning of the 2024-2025 marketing year (July-June), of which 202,000 tons were shipped this month, according to the press service of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food, citing data from the State Customs Service. were shipped this month, according to the press service of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food, citing data from the State Customs Service.
According to the report, as of June 7 last year, total shipments amounted to 47.734 million tons, including 802,000 tons in June.
At the same time, in terms of crops, since the beginning of the current season, 14.906 million tons of wheat (43,000 tons in June), 2.305 million tons of barley (no exports), 10,800 tons of rye (0), corn – 20.728 million tons (158 thousand tons).
Total exports of Ukrainian flour since the beginning of the season as of June 4 are estimated at 65.4 thousand tons (in June – 0.4 thousand tons), including wheat flour – 61 thousand tons (0.4 thousand tons).
Corn exports from Ukraine in May 2025 reached over 2 million tons, becoming one of the highest figures in recent months, according to the analytical cooperative “Pusk,” created within the framework of the All-Ukrainian Agrarian Council.
According to analysts, at least 850,000 tons of corn have already been contracted for June, and this figure is not final. Total exports in June are expected to exceed 1 million tons.
“This indicates that traders have previously concluded contracts. Therefore, deliveries of the old crop are continuing quite actively,” experts noted.
At the same time, the situation on the export market is complicated by price pressure. Thus, the cost of American corn is currently held at $230 per ton, while prices for Ukrainian corn have risen to $256-260 per ton.
“In the current conditions, we cannot compete with American suppliers on the European market. Ukrainian corn is sold in small batches — 2-5 thousand tons — mainly to Greece and Cyprus. For comparison, the US exports only large volumes of 25 thousand tons,” analysts explained.
An additional factor is limited grain reserves: only 1-1.5 million tons of corn remain on the domestic market. This means that there are already very few volumes available for large-scale exports.
“We expect the market to become less liquid in June. Price benchmarks will gradually decline to around $215 per ton in ports. From the second half of the month, demand will decline significantly, and the market will begin to focus on the new harvest,” Pusk predicts.
