TK-Home Textiles, part of the Textile-Contact (TK Group) of companies, shipped goods worth over EUR160,000 to a customer in Denmark, marking the largest export shipment since the start of this year, according to TK Group owner Oleksandr Sokolovskyi.
“We’ve had our largest export shipment since the start of the year—two full truckloads of products manufactured by TK-Home Textiles were shipped to Denmark. And this is just for one client who started working with us very cautiously last year but has already increased the order volume fivefold since the start of the year compared to 2025,” Sokolovsky wrote on Facebook.
He reported that the shipment included jackets, thermal underwear, knitwear (sweaters, hats, scarves), and children’s shoes.
“And while we’ve only recently started manufacturing shoes ourselves at the factory in Chyhyryn (which we took over), we’ve been sewing all other items for a long time at our own production facilities in Kyiv, Chernihiv, and Odesa. Cotton fabrics and insulation (siliconized synthetic down) also come from our own factories, which allows us to minimize costs and remain independent of imports with their constant logistical risks,” the post reads.
Sokolovsky emphasized that the company’s European partners primarily value geographical proximity and fast logistics; full-cycle, diversified production—from the creation of threads and fabric to the finished product; the quality of natural cotton materials; consistent quality control at every stage; as well as “fair and competitive prices.”
“The last point is very important because all customers are counting their money, and we have to withstand fierce competition from Chinese, Turkish, and other powerful manufacturers who, at the same time, operate in peaceful and stable conditions without facing our military, energy, personnel, and other risks,” he emphasized.
Sokolovsky also added that it has become more difficult for Ukrainian manufacturers to “compete” for European customers, and the company must constantly prove that even in the event of force majeure at any of the TK-Group factories, other factories will cover the orders and the products will be shipped on time.
“While in 2022–2023 European customers genuinely sympathized with us and sincerely tried to support us with orders, over the past couple of years—even when we offer competitive prices and guarantee quality—it has been very difficult to turn discussions into signed contracts. Whether they’ve ‘grown tired’ of our war, whether their insurance companies are giving them a hard time, or whether it’s just politics—who knows… But their protocols point to risks, and it’s easier for them to turn us down and shift orders somewhere in Asia,” he wrote.
In addition, the owner of “TK-Group” emphasized that we must fight for every foreign client also because demand for textile products in the domestic market has significantly decreased for obvious reasons (population decline and reduced purchasing power).
“Cheap imports, mostly contraband, have unfortunately not disappeared either,” the post notes.
“TK-Home Textiles” is a leading manufacturer of fabrics, home textiles, and children’s products in Ukraine. Its portfolio of assets includes one of the few finishing factories in Ukraine producing cotton fabrics in Chernihiv, “TK-DT Chernihiv.” Its assets also include sewing factories in Kyiv, Ternopil, Chernihiv, and Odesa; a shoe factory in Chyhyryn; a knitting facility; and a synthetic fiber production facility in Chernihiv.
As reported, the countries importing “TK DT” products include Denmark, Germany, Lithuania, Latvia, Georgia, France, Romania, Sweden, and Slovakia.
TK Group was founded in 1995. It currently operates as a holding company that encompasses the full range of services in the textile industry—from raw materials and yarns to finished solutions for B2B, B2G, and B2C clients. The group’s founder is Sokolovsky, chairman of the Light Industry Defense Procurement Committee at the Federation of Employers of Ukraine.
The Ukrainian group of companies Kormotech, a manufacturer of dog and cat food, expects revenue of approximately €200 million by the end of 2025, with exports currently accounting for 30% of sales, said co-owner and CEO Rostislav Vovk at the Forbes Ukraina Exporters Summit.
“We are currently working very hard on this (increasing the export share – IF-U). I am confident that by 2028–2029, we will increase our export sales to at least 45% of our turnover and continue to grow from there. In other words, for us, internationalization means that the majority of our revenue comes from foreign markets,” Vovk noted.
According to the CEO, the company is currently actively expanding its presence in the U.S. Last year, revenue in the U.S. market was approximately $4 million, but the plan for this year calls for growth to over $10 million. The products are already available on Amazon and the specialty retailer Chewy, as well as in 150 stores in the New York area and neighboring states. Vovk added that “this is precisely why we are in the United States—to understand which trends will reach Europe in a few years.”
Assessing competitiveness, the CEO noted that Europe currently lags behind the U.S. in innovation by five to seven years. For Ukrainian businesses, expansion is a way to “gain a foothold” to ensure the company’s stability regardless of the domestic situation in the country, energy supply issues, or veterinary risks.
In Europe, Kormotech’s strategy is focused on 15 countries in Central and Eastern Europe. The priority markets are Romania, Bulgaria, and the Baltic states. In particular, in Lithuania—which the company considers its “second home market” due to the presence of its own factory there—the manufacturer already controls 10% of the market.
Vovk named Bulgaria and Romania as the most promising markets in the region, as they are growing rapidly and the company’s products are ideally suited to the needs of local customers. According to him, experience in Ukraine allows the company to anticipate competitors’ moves and the stages of development in these markets.
The company’s CEO emphasized that expansion into new markets requires long-term investment—five to eight years of operating without profit to successfully compete with multinational giants. The manufacturer continues to invest in diversification and uses its own profits for development in EU countries.
In terms of capital, Kormotech is exclusively considering an acquisition strategy and is currently seeking suitable targets. The expansion is financed through internal funds and credit lines from the EBRD and Raiffeisen Bank. At the same time, the company remains a family business: according to the “family constitution,” bringing in outside investors is only possible for a minority stake, with the owners retaining the mandatory right to buy it back in the future.
“We are building a century-old company, so we cannot afford to ‘shoot in all directions at once.’ Our path is to establish corporate governance where shareholders have systematic control, and the business develops as a large family structure, following the example of Mars or Walmart. (…) My main advice to my past self is not to expect very quick victories, not to enter Poland right away due to the extremely fierce competition in the discount market, and not to be afraid of mistakes, because without them it would be impossible to achieve what we have now,” Vovk concluded.
Kormotech is an international family-owned company with Ukrainian roots, founded in 2003. It produces cat and dog food under the brands Optimeal, Club 4 Paws, Delickcious, Meow!, Woof!, and My Love. It has production facilities in Ukraine and the EU, and its product range includes over 650 items. The company’s products are available in 55 countries worldwide, both under its own brands and under the brands of partner companies.
According to published information, the company’s strategic goal is to become one of the top 30 global pet food manufacturers by 2029, with annual revenue of EUR500 million, of which EUR300 million is planned to come from European markets.
The introduction of export duties on rapeseed and soybeans last September caused a redistribution of income from agricultural producers to processors, resulting in total losses for farmers of approximately $200 million, the American Chamber of Commerce (ACC) reported during a press briefing in Kyiv on Wednesday.
According to published data, due to a 7% drop in domestic prices relative to global markets, Ukrainian farmers lost $130 million in profits. Small and medium-sized producers, who are unable to export their products independently, were hit the hardest. An additional $50 million was collected from farmers and exporters in the form of duties paid to the state budget.
“The export duty that was introduced is effectively a redistribution of income among producers in favor of processors. Instead of stimulating processing, we have ended up with a mechanism to cover the losses of the processing industry at the expense of crop production,” the ACC noted.
Representatives of the business association emphasized that in the six months since the law took effect, not a single new processing facility has been declared or built in Ukraine. At the same time, existing capacity of 23 million tons already exceeds the total oilseed production volume, which stands at about 20 million tons.
According to ACC estimates, Ukraine’s foreign exchange earnings from oilseed exports during this period decreased by $1 billion. Specifically, revenue from rapeseed exports fell by $700 million (with partial compensation from increased exports of oil and meal, the net loss amounts to $400 million – IF-U). For soybeans, the decline is estimated at $240 million, and for sunflowers, at $345 million.
Experts argue that the arguments of the bill’s initiators regarding the successful experience with sunflower seed tariffs were flawed due to the different physical nature of the crops. As a light product, sunflower seeds are more profitable to process locally, whereas rapeseed and soybeans are heavy crops that are more practical to transport by large vessels to consumption centers. The ACC also highlighted the negative legislative precedent, as protests from leading industry associations—including the Ukrainian Agribusiness Club (UAC) and the Ukrainian Agrarian Council (UAC)—were ignored during the law’s adoption. Furthermore, this decision has strained relations with European partners and contradicts the processes of European integration.
For his part, Oleg Nivievsky, a professor at the Kyiv School of Economics (KSE), noted that the total losses incurred by agricultural producers due to the law over a full marketing year could amount to approximately 17 billion UAH. According to his calculations, the rapeseed duty will generate 6.2 billion UAH for the budget but will result in net economic losses of 80–170 million UAH due to reduced farmer incomes. The situation is even worse for soybeans: with budget revenues of 4.1–4.7 billion UAH, farmers will lose 9.1–9.3 billion UAH, resulting in net losses for the country of 200–500 million UAH.
“This is a bad signal for the market, indicating that processing is uncompetitive without state subsidies. A similar logic of ‘utilizing capacity’ is already being applied to the export of scrap metal and timber, which sets an extremely negative precedent,” emphasized Nivievsky, adding that the state’s total economic losses from duties on both crops could reach 280–670 million UAH.
As reported, pursuant to Law No. 4536-IX of July 16, 2025, a 10% export duty on rapeseed and soybeans was introduced in Ukraine effective September 4, 2025. The document provides for a gradual reduction of the rate by 1% annually, starting January 1, 2030, to 5% by 2035. At the same time, the law includes a preferential regime for direct producers and cooperatives, who are exempt from paying the duty when exporting their own-grown products.
Ukraine and Singapore have intensified negotiations on opening the market to Ukrainian pork and finalizing the procedures for beginning its export, according to the State Service of Ukraine for Food Safety and Consumer Protection (SSFSCP).
According to the report, during a visit to Singapore, a delegation from the agency, led by its head Serhiy Tkachuk, discussed with the leadership of the Singapore Food Agency the accreditation of Ukrainian enterprises in accordance with previously submitted applications.
“Ukraine already has experience cooperating with Singapore. To date, five forms of veterinary certificates for export have been agreed upon: heat-treated and canned meat products, poultry meat, table eggs, egg products, and pet food,” Tkachuk emphasized.
The trip also included a meeting with representatives of the Meat Traders Association (Singapore). Singaporean companies expressed interest in sourcing Ukrainian pork to diversify imports and strengthen food security.
For their part, representatives of the Meat Industry Association and Ukrainian exporters presented their production capacities and quality standards. The host side familiarized the Ukrainian delegation with the technologies used to prepare meat for sale in Singapore’s retail chains.
Following the meetings, agreements were reached on further cooperation to facilitate Ukrainian businesses’ entry into this market.
As a result of the introduction of a zero quota on the export of ferrous metal scrap effective January 1 of this year, the scrap collection industry is losing its potential, reducing raw material procurement, and being forced to lay off employees, stated the head of the Ukrainian Association of Secondary Metals (UAVtormet) Volodymyr Bubley said this at a press conference held at the Interfax-Ukraine press center on Tuesday, titled “Ban on scrap exports: economic consequences for the market and the state.”
According to him, the ban on scrap metal exports—without balancing consumption and procurement of this raw material—has essentially had a negative impact on the operations of scrap metal procurement companies. At the same time, steel production in Ukraine has fallen: in January-February 2026, compared to the same period in 2025, steel production decreased by 13.3%—from 1.183 million tons to 1.026 million tons.
At the same time, the purchase of ferrous metal scrap by metallurgical enterprises decreased significantly—by 31.7%, from 257,800 tons to 176,000 tons. Meanwhile, procurement fell by 41.1%—from 313,600 tons to 184,800 tons.
“Previously, scrap exports accounted for 20–25%. We felt more comfortable operating in the domestic market. We are still operating there now, and we want to continue working in Ukraine,” said Bubley, emphasizing that the price of scrap in the EU is more attractive and has reached 300–330 euros per ton.
“The state loses 12 million euros every month due to the export ban. It loses 200 million hryvnias in taxes. Meanwhile, steelmakers are 112% supplied with scrap,” the head of UAVtormet cited his data.
According to his estimates, Ukraine will produce 7.4 million tons of steel in 2026, which will require 1.5 million tons of scrap—the industry can supply up to 2 million tons of scrap.
Serhiy Vovk, CEO of Ukrmet-Invest LLC, noted that the scrap metal collected by companies is not being purchased by steel mills; his company’s scrap metal stockpile has currently reached 13,000 tons. “Export is the only way for the industry to survive,” the CEO believes.
Vladislav Kleshchynskyi, CEO of the Ukrmet Group of Companies, added that the ban was imposed due to an alleged scrap metal shortage.
“But there is no shortage. Steel mills purchase 30–50% at most. So it’s impossible to call this a shortage. Right now, the scrap market in Ukraine is a market of metallurgical enterprises that dictate prices. We have already cut our staff by 50%, 35 divisions are operating at 20% of their capacity, and we have shut down our entire export infrastructure,” the CEO stated.
Mykola Klimovich, Director of Mirten LLC, clarified that in 2022–2026, the scrap market will be in surplus, and scrap exports were an opportunity to sell it.
According to experts, following the government’s ban on scrap exports, the procurement sector is in a “severe recession” with a trend toward further reductions in procurement.
Earlier, Bubley stated that the export ban automatically affected not only procurement volumes but also domestic prices, as reduced competition allowed steelmakers to act as monopolists in the domestic market. Thus, the cost of one ton of scrap at procurement sites has halved: from 8,000 UAH/t to 4,000 UAH/t.
Under these conditions, companies engaged in scrap procurement are forced to reduce their workforce. In January–February 2026, compared to the same period last year, the number of employees in the industry decreased significantly. In just the first two months, companies in our industry were forced to lay off about 2,000 employees, reported the head of UAVtormet.
“The trend is grim: almost every day we receive reports from companies about a complete shutdown of operations or significant staff reductions. According to our forecasts, 4,000 workers will be laid off in the industry by May,” Bubley predicted earlier.
According to UAVtormet’s research, due to the export ban, the state is losing approximately 200–250 million UAH in taxes each month. A separate category of losses is foreign exchange revenue: approximately 25 million euros have already been lost.
As reported, Ukrainian companies reduced exports of ferrous metal scrap by 77.3% in January–February of this year compared to the same period last year—to 9,309 thousand tons from 40,980 thousand tons. According to statistics from the State Customs Service (SCS), there were no exports in February; 9,309 thousand tons were exported in January, and a record 68,520 thousand tons of scrap were exported in December 2025.
In 2025, Ukraine’s scrap metal processing enterprises increased exports of ferrous metal scrap by 45.3% compared to the previous year—to 448,685 thousand tons from 293,190 thousand tons.
Due to the sharp increase in exports of strategic raw materials from Ukraine, the Ministry of Economy initiated the introduction of a licensing and quota system for scrap exports, setting a zero quota. The government temporarily imposed a zero export quota for 2026 on the export of ferrous metal scrap.
Scrap collection companies in Ukraine increased exports of ferrous metal scrap by 60.7% in 2024 compared to 2023—to 293,190 thousand tons from 182,465 thousand tons. In monetary terms, scrap exports for the year rose by 73.2%—to $91.311 million from $52.723 million.
Sources: https://interfax.com.ua/news/press-announcement/1153229.html; https://uavtormet.com/en/na-mezhi-katastrofy-zagotivlya-bruhtu-chornyh-metaliv-vpala-na-40/
In January-February of this year, Ukrainian enterprises reduced their consumption of rolled metal products by 11.01% compared to the same period last year, to 495,500 tons.
According to a press release from the Ukrmetallurgprom association on Thursday, 246,900 tons, or 49.83% of the domestic market for rolled metal consumption, were imported during this period.
According to Ukrmetallurgprom, in January-February 2026, metallurgical enterprises produced 796.7 thousand tons of rolled metal (83.2% compared to the same period in 2025), of which, according to the State Customs Service of Ukraine, about 548.1 thousand tons, or 68.8%, were exported. In January-February 2025, the share of exports was 63.5% (607.6 thousand tons with a total production of rolled metal products of 957.0 thousand tons).
The share of semi-finished products in export deliveries in January-February 2026 is 33.90%, which coincides with the indicator for the two months of 2025 (33.21%). The share of flat products in export deliveries in January-February 2026 significantly exceeds the figure for January-February 2025 (58.58% and 47.78%, respectively). The share of long products is significantly lower than in January-February 2025 (7.52% in 2026 versus 19.01% in 2025).
The structure of imports in January-February 2026 is characterized by a noticeable dominance of flat products over long products (53.54% and 30.21%, respectively), However, in January-February 2025, the dominance of flat rolled products over long products was significantly greater (82.55% and 14.42%, respectively).
In January-February 2026, the domestic market capacity was 495.5 thousand tons of rolled metal, of which 246.9 thousand tons, or 49.83%, were imports. In January-February 2025, the domestic market capacity was 556.8 thousand tons, of which 207.4 thousand tons, or 37.25%, were imported. Thus, in January-February 2026, there was an 11.01% decrease in the capacity of the domestic market compared to January 2025, with a simultaneous 12.58% increase in the share of imports,” the press release states.
According to the State Customs Service, the main export markets for Ukrainian rolled metal in January-February 2026 are the countries of the European Union (75.8%), other European countries (12.7%), and the CIS (6.4%).
Among metallurgical importers in January-February 2026, other European countries ranked first (44.9%), followed by Asian countries (24.6%) and the EU-27 countries (17.3%).
As reported, Ukraine’s rolled metal market in 2025 increased by 21.73% compared to the previous year, to 4 million 1.6 thousand tons. During this period, 1 million 603.6 thousand tons were imported, or 40.07% of the domestic rolled metal consumption market.
In 2024, Ukraine’s rolled metal market decreased by 6.26% compared to the previous year, to 3 million 288.4 thousand tons, while in 2023 it increased 2.19 times compared to 2022, to 3 million 505.6 thousand tons.
