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.
The Tea&Food division of Biosphere Corporation, represented by the Graff and Ritz Barton brands, increased its production and sales by 2.5 times compared to the previous year, according to the company’s press service.
According to the report, sales volume increased from 1.4 million packs in 2024 to 3.5 million packs in 2025. Monthly turnover at the end of the year exceeded UAH 35 million, and the Graff brand entered the top 4 tea brands in Ukraine in terms of sales volume in retail chains. The company’s share of the domestic tea market is estimated at 5%.
“The growth of our tea business was driven by a strong marketing strategy and the development of relationships with major retail chains. The next step in our development is international expansion,” said Andriy Zdesenko, founder and CEO of Biosphere Corporation.
CupSoul CEO Iryna Broslavtseva emphasized the brand’s readiness to compete in foreign markets.
“The quality of our tea has been recognized not only by Ukrainian consumers, but also by numerous awards, including international ones. This proves that we are creating a European-quality product in Ukraine that can be competitive in foreign markets,” the press service quoted Broslavtseva as saying.
CupSoul, which is responsible for the tea division within the corporation, added that at the end of 2025, it began exporting Graff tea to Spain. During 2026, it plans to enter the Canadian market and further expand in Europe, particularly in Germany, Poland, and the Czech Republic, where the trademark has already been registered.
Despite a rocket attack on the production complex in Dnipro in the spring of 2025, which damaged the workshop and destroyed raw material stocks, the company resumed production within a month. Currently, the tea range includes 124 items. Over the past year, the brand has received a number of professional awards, including the Red Dot Award for packaging design and bronze awards at the Effie Awards Ukraine.
Biosphere Corporation is a leading manufacturer and distributor of household and personal hygiene products in Ukraine and one of the leaders in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. Its production facilities consist of six modern factories in Ukraine and two in Europe. Its portfolio of 25 brands includes Freken BOK, Smile, Novita, Lady Cotton, PRO service, Alufix, Vortex, Graff, and others, with about 2,000 SKUs. According to the release, Biosphere products are represented in more than 25 countries and over 100 retail chains, including METRO, Auchan, Spar, Billa, Carrefour, Albert, and Hofer.
The founder and CEO of the corporation is Andriy Zdesenko.
In January-February 2026, imports of tin and tin products increased by 18.8% to $727 thousand (in February – $559 thousand).
Exports of tin and tin products in January-February 2026 amounted to $248,000 (in February – $23,000), while in January-February 2025 they amounted to $5,000.
In 2025, imports of tin and tin products increased by 36.5% to $4.352 million.
Exports of tin and tin products amounted to $241,000, compared to $389,000 in the 12 months of 2024.
Tin is mainly used as a safe, non-toxic, corrosion-resistant coating in its pure form or in alloys with other metals. The main industrial applications of tin are in white tinplate (tinned iron) for the manufacture of food containers, in solders for electronics, in domestic piping, in bearing alloys, and in coatings made of tin and its alloys. The most important tin alloy is bronze (with copper).
Ukrainian manufacturer of passive fire protection systems Kovlar Group is expanding its presence in the Moldovan market and expects to make this direction one of the first stable export channels for its products.
According to the company, it has been supplying fire protection products for engineering communications to Moldova for the past two years. Kovlar Group notes that there is virtually no domestic production of passive fire protection materials on the Moldovan market, so local partners are showing interest in Ukrainian systems.
The company specifies that regular technical meetings are held with Moldovan specialists to introduce the products, during which issues of fire protection system design, national regulatory requirements, and features of material application are discussed. According to preliminary agreements, the Moldovan side plans to purchase a significant part of Ammokote products.
The presence of Ammokote products on the Moldovan market is also confirmed by open specialized resources: in particular, the specialized platform Antikor.md features Ammokote products for fire protection of engineering communications with technical documentation and certificates.
Kovlar Group LLC was founded in 2015 in Kyiv and is the largest manufacturer of passive fire protection products in Ukraine. According to OpenDataBot, the company’s authorized capital is UAH 1.2 million, and its ultimate beneficiaries are Kostyantyn Kalafat (40%), Andrii Ozeychuk (35%), and Liubov Vakhitova (25%). The company’s revenue for 2024 amounted to UAH 91.37 million, which is twice as much as a year earlier, and its net profit was UAH 13.4 million, which is 1.7 times higher than in 2023. In the first quarter of 2025, the company’s revenue amounted to UAH 13.5 million, with a net profit of UAH 1.983 million.
Imports of goods to Ukraine in January-February 2026 amounted to $14.8 billion in monetary terms, while in the same period last year they amounted to $11.3 billion, which is 31% less, according to data from the press service of the State Customs Service of Ukraine (SCS).
According to a publication on the agency’s Telegram channel, in the first two months of 2026, goods worth $6.5 billion were exported from Ukraine, which is almost unchanged compared to the same period in 2025 ($6.3 billion).
“At the same time, taxable imports amounted to $5.2 billion, which is 78% of the total volume of imported goods. The tax burden per 1 kg of taxable imports in January-February 2026 was $0.54/kg,” the report says.
The largest imports to Ukraine came from China ($4 billion), Poland ($1.4 billion), and Turkey ($1.1 billion).
The largest exports from Ukraine went to Poland ($713 million), Turkey ($563 million), and Italy ($428 million).
Of the total volume of goods imported in January-February 2026, 71% of the categories were machinery, equipment, and transport – $6 billion (with customs clearance, 32.9 billion UAH, or 26% of customs payments, was paid to the budget), fuel and energy products – $2.6 billion (49.7 billion hryvnia, or 39% of customs payments, paid to the budget), chemical industry products – $2 million (15.9 billion hryvnia, or 12% of revenues, paid).
The top three most exported goods from Ukraine were food products – $4 billion, metals and metal products – $589 million, and machinery, equipment, and transport – $532 million.
“In January-February 2026, during customs clearance of exports of goods subject to export duties, UAH 318.5 million was paid to the budget,” the State Customs Service summarized.
The Experts Club think tank has analyzed European countries’ responses to the fuel crisis. European countries’ responses to the 2026 fuel crisis have so far been mixed. Some governments are directly intervening in the fuel market by restricting exports, introducing price caps, and releasing reserves. Others are limiting themselves to price monitoring and coordination at the EU and G7 levels, trying not to provoke a shortage with even tougher measures.
Serbia has chosen the most aggressive form of intervention. The authorities have temporarily suspended exports of oil, gasoline, and diesel until March 19, explaining that this is to protect the domestic market from shortages and price spikes. Reuters notes that Serbia had already been controlling fuel prices since February 2022, meaning that the current decision is a continuation of a more interventionist regulatory model.
Hungary has opted for a mixed scenario. On the one hand, Budapest has introduced a price cap on gasoline and diesel for cars registered in Hungary. On the other hand, the government decided to use state reserves, and the Minister of Economy, according to Hungarian media reports, also announced a reduction in excise duties and a ban on the export of some petroleum products. This is a typical example of a combined anti-crisis scheme, where the authorities simultaneously try to keep retail prices down and maintain the physical availability of fuel on the market.
Croatia has chosen a softer approach—limiting maximum retail prices for a two-week period. The government has set a maximum price of EUR1.50 per liter for Eurosuper, EUR1.55 for diesel, and EUR0.89 for “blue diesel,” and has also limited prices for liquefied gas. Zagreb has stated outright that without this measure, diesel would cost EUR 1.72 per liter and gasoline EUR 1.55. This means that Croatia is trying not to isolate the market, but to soften the final effect on households and businesses.
Slovakia and, to some extent, the Czech Republic have focused not on retail regulation but on supporting physical supplies. After the failure of supplies via Druzhba, Slovakia approved the use of 250,000 tons of oil from strategic reserves for refining, while Hungary and Slovakia began negotiations on the use of reserves back in February. The Czech Republic, in turn, announced its readiness to send small volumes of oil to Slovakia via the eastern Druzhba pipeline.
The UK has not yet introduced price caps or export bans. Treasury Secretary Rachel Reeves said the government was monitoring the situation closely and warned retailers that it would not allow “excessive profits” amid the oil shock. This approach is closer to a supervisory model: the authorities are signaling to the market that they are ready to tighten control over the behavior of sellers, but are not moving to direct price administration.
At the pan-European level, caution prevails for now. The G7 and the EU are discussing possible measures, including the use of strategic reserves, tax changes, and carbon price adjustments, but no decision on coordinated release of reserves has been made yet. France, as chair of the G7, says that “all options are on the table,” but acknowledges that there is no immediate shortage in Europe.
The European Commission, for its part, points to the structural vulnerability of Europe, which imports more than 90% of its oil and about 80% of its gas.
The main conclusion for Europe now is that countries are responding differently depending on their own vulnerability. Balkan and Central European countries, which are dependent on imports and specific supply routes, tend to act faster and more aggressively — through bans, price caps, and reserves. The large economies of Western Europe are still favoring coordination, market pressure, and preparing tools in case the situation worsens. But if the oil shock drags on, the current targeted measures could turn into a broader wave of European intervention in the fuel market.
