In January 2025, Ukraine reduced imports of nickel and nickel products by 66% compared to the same period in 2024, to $1.216 million. In December 2024, this figure was $3.058 million. Nickel exports in January 2025 amounted to $33 thousand, while in December it was $17 thousand. In 2024, Ukraine exported nickel worth $532 thousand.
Nickel is used to produce stainless steel and for nickel plating. Nickel is also used in the production of batteries, powder metallurgy, and chemicals.
In January 2025, Ukrainian companies reduced imports of copper and copper products by 17.93% compared to the same period in 2024, to $13.815 million. At the same time, copper exports increased by 31.7% to $6.951 million during this period. In December 2024, copper imports amounted to $13.487 million, and exports amounted to $7.128 million.
Copper is widely used in electrical engineering, pipe manufacturing, alloys, medicine and other industries.
Imports of tractors to Ukraine in January this year amounted to $43.87 million, which is 34% less than in the same month in 2023, according to statistics from the State Customs Service.
According to the statistics released by the agency, tractors were mainly imported from China (21.2% of total imports of this equipment, or $9.3 million), Germany (5.5%, or $12.4 million), and the United States (10.7%, or $4.7 million), while a year earlier it was Poland (19.5%), Germany (19.3%), and the Netherlands (11%).
According to the statistics, in January, tractors were exported for $0.56 million against $0.3 million a year earlier, mainly to Zambia (41.4%), Romania (36.2%), and the Czech Republic (14%).
Imports of tractors to Ukraine in 2024 amounted to almost $784 million, down 5.6% from a year earlier, while exports amounted to $5.44 million against $5.74 million.
In January 2025, imports of passenger cars, including cargo and passenger vans and racing cars (UKT FEA code 8703), decreased by 17.8% in monetary terms compared to January last year to $333.97 million.
According to customs statistics released by the State Customs Service of Ukraine, the top three countries from which cars were imported were Germany, the United States and Japan.
In particular, imports of cars from Germany increased by 39.6% to $74.64 million, and their share in the structure of car imports amounted to 22.35% against 13.15% a year earlier.
Cars from the United States were imported for $62.51 million (12% less); from Japan, which last year was not among the top three countries with the largest car imports, they were imported for $41.71 million.
At the same time, China was not among the top three in January 2025, with imports from it amounting to $70.7 million in January last year (second place after the United States).
In general, imports of passenger cars from other countries amounted to $155.11 million in January 2025, while a year earlier it was $211.35 million.
At the same time, last month, Ukraine exported such vehicles for $1.09 million, while a year earlier – for $0.76 million, in particular, 90.5% of exports were to the UAE, 3.78% – to Germany, 3.13% – to Moldova, while in January-2024 it was Canada (52.4%), the United States (26.8%) and Germany (7.2%).
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).
In January, Ukraine increased imports of dairy products by 55% compared to the same period last year, Infagro news agency reported.
“The market of fresh dairy products began to revive in February. Sales growth is rather slow, there is no positive dynamics that was observed in the same period of previous years. In February, prices began to stabilize, but unfortunately, by this time they had already reached a very high level,” analysts said.
Experts suggested that in order to stimulate sales, it would be right to reduce prices, especially for sour cream and cottage cheese. Therefore, the major players will try to resort to promotional sales with significant price reductions more often in the near future. In any case, there should definitely be no further price increases, they believe.
“Domestic producers should already be concerned about a significant increase in imports of fresh dairy products. In January, they were imported by 55% more than in the same period last year. And if earlier Ukraine mainly imported yogurt and various cheese products, in January several hundred tons of cheap Polish milk were imported. Polish imports of fresh dairy products accounted for 60% of the total volume,” the industry publication emphasized.
Exports of fresh dairy products are also growing, but not at the same rate as imports. The main export market for Ukrainian fresh dairy products remains Moldova, 88%, Infagro summarized.
Ukraine’s imports of goods in January 2025 increased by 7.8% y-o-y, from $5.1 billion to $5.5 billion, while exports decreased by 5.9%, from $3.4 billion to $3.2 billion, the State Customs Service reported on Monday.
According to information on its website, January imports are the highest since 2023, when they reached $4.8 billion, while exports returned to the level of 2023, when they amounted to $3.1 billion.
“Taxed imports (in January-2025 – IF-U) amounted to $4.1 billion, which is 74% of the total volume of imported goods. The tax burden per 1 kg of taxable imports in January 2025 amounted to $0.49/kg,” the State Customs Service said in a statement.
It is noted that China imported the most goods to Ukraine – by $1.4 billion, Poland – by $487 million and Turkey – by $389 million.
Ukraine exported most of its goods to Poland – by $352 million, Italy – by $205 million, and Spain – by $202 million.
In the total volume of goods imported in January 2025, 68% were in the categories of machinery, equipment and transport – $2.2 billion (UAH 12.9 billion, or 27% of customs revenues, was paid to the budget), chemical products – $901 million (UAH 7.3 billion, 15%), and fuel and energy – $734 million (UAH 14.2 billion, 30%).
The top three most exported goods from Ukraine were food products ($1.8 billion), metals and metal products ($325 million), and machinery, equipment, and transport ($282 million).
In January 2025, a total of UAH 22.2 million was paid to the budget during customs clearance of exports of goods subject to export duties.
