Electricity imports in December 2024 increased by 2.7 times compared to November – up to 433.4 thousand MWh, while exports fell by 6.1 times – to 6.8 thousand MWh, according to data on the Energy Map portal.
Thus, according to Energoreforma’s calculations based on these data, electricity imports in December-2024 exceeded exports by 63.7 times.
Most electricity was imported from Hungary – 152.33 thousand MWh (35.16%). This was followed by Slovakia – 107.08 thousand MWh (24.71%), Poland – 91.98 thousand MWh (21.23%), Romania – 70.78 thousand MWh (16.34%), and Moldova – 11.12 thousand MWh (2.57%).
Hungary also ranks first in terms of exports – 2.99 thousand MWh (43.96%) were supplied there. Romania exported 1.58 thousand MWh (23.17%), Moldova – 1.06 thousand MWh (15.56%), Slovakia – 1.04 thousand MWh (15.33%), Poland – 0.14 thousand MWh (1.99%).
In total, in 2024, electricity imports amounted to 4.44 million MWh, which is 5.5 times higher than in 2023 (806.4 thousand MWh). The largest amount of electricity was imported in June – 858.38 thousand MWh, the smallest in February – 84.09 thousand MWh.
Exports in 2024 amounted to 348.43 thousand MWh, which is almost at the level of 2023 – 366.5 thousand MWh. The largest amount was exported in March – 154.1 thousand MWh, the smallest in September – 0.69 thousand MWh. No exports were made in June-August.
As reported, in November 2024, imports decreased by 9% compared to October – to 165 million kWh, exports to Europe decreased by 31% – to 41.9 thousand MWh.
Despite the overall shortage of electricity caused by Russia’s massive attacks on the power grid, Ukraine has a surplus at certain hours, including when renewable energy generation is active and at night, which allows it to export. An alternative to exports is, in particular, a forced limitation of electricity production from renewable energy sources, which should be compensated by NPC Ukrenergo. Due to the surplus, other types of generation should also reduce their capacity.
In 2025, Ukraine exported goods worth $41.627 billion, up $5.44 billion, or 15%, compared to 2023, Deputy Minister of Economy and Trade Representative of Ukraine Taras Kachka said.
“In terms of weight, exports amounted to 131.179 million tons. This is 30.8 million tons more, which means an increase of 30.8%. Imports also increased by 8.6% to $69 billion,” he wrote on Facebook on Wednesday.
Kachka specified that imports of electricity increased by 333% to $669 million, batteries by 103% to $950 million, transformers by 108% to $596 million, and UAVs by 77% to $1.2 billion.
“The top imports are petroleum products ($6.8 billion) and “miscellaneous” ($4.5 billion), which are directly related to war and defense. So energy challenges and defense are the main drivers of imports. The drivers are not at all inelastic. A significant reduction in the trade deficit is directly related to the development of the defense industry and the restoration of energy infrastructure,” the trade representative emphasized.
Regarding exports, Kachka noted that due to the opening of navigation in ports, iron ore became the leader in terms of exports – 33.6 million tons, which is 89% more compared to 2023, and in monetary terms, the growth was 58% – up to $ 2.8 billion.
According to him, the second position in terms of volume was taken by corn – 29 million tons, which is 12.3% more than in 2023, but in monetary terms the increase was only 2.3%, up to $5.07 billion.
The Trade Representative emphasized that the situation is the opposite in poultry exports: in physical terms, it increased by only 5.6% to 448.4 thousand tons, but in monetary terms – by 20% to $961 million.
“Among the goods whose exports amounted to more than a billion dollars, I would like to emphasize cable products, whose exports increased by 60% to $1.27 billion,” added Kachka.
According to his data, the growth in export revenues for key metallurgical products was 52% for semi-finished products to $927 million, 38.9% for hot-rolled products to $809 million, 125% for pipes to $590 million, 6.1% for pig iron to $500 million and 19.3% for bars to $156 million.
“Confectionery is a certain indicator of the food processing industry’s performance. There is a 38% increase in revenue from chocolate ($264 million), 26.9% growth for biscuits ($269 million), 15.6% for candy without chocolate ($215 million),” the trade representative also wrote.
In timber processing, he drew attention to the fact that the export of boards (sawn timber) decreased in volume, but still remained above 1 million tons, and in revenue – by 1.2%, to $400.9 million, but glued plywood was exported by 95% more – $125.3 million.
“There are also good indicators in the consumer goods sector. Exports of suits, sets, jackets, trousers, overalls for men amounted to $99 million. This is 646% … more than in 2023. Exports of suits, sets, jackets, dresses, skirts for women amounted to $71.3 million, which is 114.2% growth,” Kachka wrote.
According to him, geographically, Ukrainian exports are becoming more and more EU-centric: exports to the EU grew by 5.9% to $24.7 billion. The top five EU members in terms of exports were Poland ($4.7 billion), Spain ($2.8 billion), Germany ($2.8 billion), the Netherlands ($1.98 billion), and Italy ($1.93 billion). At the same time, exports to Germany grew by 40.5%, while exports to Poland decreased by 1.1%, the trade representative said.
“In general, trade with Poland is declining, as Ukraine imported 6.8% less from it than in 2023. At the same time, Poland continues to be the leader in the supply of goods from the EU – $6.8 billion out of $34.3 billion of total imports from the EU,” Kachka stated.
He noted that trade with Turkey is also declining – by 7.2% in exports and 13.5% in imports.
According to him, imports from China are growing at a significant pace: last year they increased by 37.4% to $14.3 billion.
“And this is the main area of turbulence in our trade policy, because trade with China may undergo radical changes due to the expected measures of the new US administration, which will go viral and lead to the recalibration of tariff rates within the WTO. If the US states that it has the right to revise its tariff rates, Ukraine has even more rights to do so, as we joined the WTO on the basis of unfulfilled expectations of lowering tariffs by other WTO member states,” Kachka emphasized.
In January-November 2024, Ukraine increased imports of tin and tin products by 17.8% to $2.850 million. Exports of tin during this period increased almost fivefold to $389 thousand, compared to $79 thousand in the same period in 2023. In November, tin imports amounted to $203 thousand, while exports amounted to $40 thousand.
Tin is used mainly as a safe, non-toxic, corrosion-resistant coating in its pure form or in alloys with other metals. The main industrial uses of tin are in white tinplate (tinned iron) for food containers, in solders for electronics, in house pipelines, in bearing alloys, and in coatings made of tin and its alloys. The most important tin alloy is bronze (with copper).
In January-November 2024, Ukraine increased imports of nickel and nickel products by 64.8% to $23.672 million. Nickel exports during this period amounted to only $585 thousand, which is 15% more than in the same period last year.
Nickel is used to make stainless steel and for nickel plating. Nickel is also used in the production of batteries, in powder metallurgy and in chemicals.
In January-November 2024, Ukraine increased imports of aluminum and aluminum products by 22.29% to $409.063 million, while exports increased by 30% to $115.982 million.
In November, aluminum imports amounted to $32.794 million, while exports amounted to $10.423 million.
In addition, in 2023, Ukraine increased imports of aluminum and aluminum products by 7.7% to $366.463 million.
In 2023, exports of aluminum and aluminum products increased by 0.7% compared to 2022, to $97.616 million.
Aluminum is widely used as a structural material. The main advantages of aluminum are its lightness, stamping resistance, corrosion resistance, high thermal conductivity, and non-toxicity of its compounds. In particular, these properties have made aluminum extremely popular in the production of cookware, aluminum foil in the food industry, and packaging. The first three properties have made aluminum the main raw material in the aviation and aerospace industries (recently it has been replaced by composite materials, primarily carbon fiber). After the construction and production of packaging, such as aluminum cans and foil, the energy sector is the largest consumer of the metal.
Imports of passenger cars, including cargo and passenger vans and racing cars (UKT FEA code 8703), to Ukraine in monetary terms in January-November this year increased by 8.4% compared to the same period in 2023, to EUR 3.995 billion.
According to customs statistics released by the State Customs Service of Ukraine on Monday, the top three countries from which cars were imported the most were the United States, Germany and Japan, while car imports from the United States increased by 9.5% to EUR734.69 million, and their share in the structure of car imports was 18.39% compared to 18.2% a year earlier.
Cars from Germany, whose share in the import structure decreased by 0.6 percentage points to 15.24%, were imported for EUR608.9 million (4.3% more), and the share of cars from Japan decreased to 11.5% from 14.4% a year earlier – they were imported for EUR462.83 million (almost 13% less).
Imports of passenger cars from other countries amounted to almost EUR2.19 billion (56.48% share), while a year earlier it was EUR1.9 billion (51.55%).
According to the statistics, in November, imports of passenger vehicles to Ukraine amounted to EUR 360.7 million, down 1.6% year-on-year.
According to the State Customs Service, in January-November, Ukraine exported such vehicles for EUR9.5 million, while a year earlier it was EUR27.3 million, with the largest exports going to Canada (EUR1.8 million), Germany (EUR1.54 million) and the US (EUR1.53 million), while last year it was to Georgia, the UAE and Germany.
