Naftogaz Group has contracted 1.5 billion cubic meters of gas since the beginning of the year: 800 million cubic meters were urgently imported at the beginning of the year, 400 million cubic meters will be delivered to Ukraine in preparation for the next winter, and another 300 million cubic meters of LNG were purchased by Naftogaz from Polish ORLEN.
“During the first quarter, Naftogaz managed to attract about EUR 430 million from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the Government of the Kingdom of Norway, which will soon be used to purchase 1 billion cubic meters of imported natural gas,” said Roman Chumak, acting Chairman of the Board of Naftogaz of Ukraine. Roman Chumak, quoted by the group’s press service in a message on the Telegram channel.
According to him, the company is also negotiating with the government and international financial institutions to raise funding in the amount of EUR 1 billion to purchase more than 2 billion cubic meters of gas.
As reported with reference to the former head of the Ukrainian Gas Transmission System Operator (GTSOU), Serhiy Makohon, Ukraine, given its own production volumes, needs to import 5.5-6.3 bcm of gas by the start of the heating season on November 1, 2025, which will require approximately $2.5-3 billion. According to his estimates, by the beginning of the next heating season, it is necessary to have at least 9 bcm of reserves in the UGS facilities (without buffer gas), as this year’s experience has shown that starting the season with lower reserves is extremely risky.
In his turn, Dmytro Abramovich, a member of the Board and Commercial Director of Naftogaz Group, said in late March that Ukraine needs to import 4.5-4.6 billion cubic meters of natural gas by November 1 this year.
According to Makohon, the guaranteed capacity for gas imports is approximately 50 million cubic meters per day, so it will take three months to import 4.6 billion cubic meters of gas, and 5.6-6.3 billion cubic meters in 4 months, and this is at 100% utilization, which is commercially difficult to achieve.
Thus, he believes that in order to import the necessary volumes by November 1, it is necessary to start importing significant volumes of gas in May.
In January-March 2025, imports of aluminum and aluminum products increased by 18.5% to $116.75 million, including $42.16 million in March.
Exports during this period increased by 35.5% to $31.7 million ($11.74 million in March). At the end of 2024, imports amounted to $446 million (+21.7%), while exports amounted to $124.4 million (+27.4%).
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.
The Interdepartmental Commission on International Trade (ICIT) imposed a final anti-dumping duty of 35.7% on imports of household matches to Ukraine on April 16.
According to the ICIT’s announcement in the Uryadovyi Kurier newspaper on Friday, the decision will enter into force 30 days after the date of publication of the announcement.
The ICIT reminds that the anti-dumping investigation was initiated by the decision of April 12 against imports of matches from India and Pakistan at the complaint of Ukrainian Match Factory LLC, which has a share of more than 50% in the total production of matches in Ukraine.
At the same time, it was found that during the investigation period (April 1, 2023 – March 31, 2024), imports of matches from India were carried out at dumping prices, while there were no imports from Pakistan.
The ICIT found that during the study period (January 1, 2021 – March 31, 2024), the volume of dumped imports decreased by 47.3% in absolute terms, while increasing by 27.8% in relation to the total production of the product in Ukraine and by 26.4% in relation to consumption.
In addition, the national producer’s production volumes decreased by 58.7%, the level of production capacity utilization by 58.7%, domestic sales by 58.1%, financial result from domestic sales in dollar terms by 229.4%, in hryvnia terms by 275.3%, and profitability from domestic sales by 390.4%, which was negative.
The number of production workers also decreased by 2.4%, wages by 32.1%, labor productivity by 57.7%, investment by 100%, and warehouse balances increased by 134.1%.
The Commission found that the Republic of India has a significant export potential, which indicates the likelihood of a significant increase in the volume of dumped imports of matches from this country in the future.
The anti-dumping measures are applied to matches, except for pyrotechnic products of heading 3604, classified under code 3605 00 00 00 according to the Ukrainian Classification of Goods for Foreign Economic Activity.
Ukrainian Match Factory LLC was founded in 1995, with production facilities located in Rivne region. The design capacity of the factory is 630 million boxes of matches per year. The products are supplied to all regions of Ukraine and abroad.
According to opendatabot, in 2024, the factory suffered a loss of almost UAH 26 million (3% more than a year earlier), while net income increased by 9.7% to UAH 175.2 million. At the same time, in 2022, it had a profit of UAH 38 million and revenue of UAH 373.5 million.
The founder of the company is listed as British Paxstone Limited, and the ultimate beneficiary is Maria Fursina from Kyiv.
In the first quarter of 2025, imports of lead and lead products to Ukraine increased 7.4 times to $2.09 million ($863 thousand in March).
Exports decreased by 25.2% to $2.12 million ($773 thousand in March).
In 2024, imports also increased by 2.4 times to $2.39 million, while exports fell by 22.9% to $11.4 million.
Lead is currently mainly used in the production of lead-acid batteries for the automotive industry. In addition, lead is used to make bullets and some alloys.
In January-March 2025, imports of tin and tin products increased by 43.5% to $890 thousand ($277 thousand in March).
Exports decreased to $55 thousand (against $81 thousand a year earlier), of which $50 thousand in March.
In 2024, imports amounted to $3.19 million (+16.9%), exports – $389 thousand (+144%).
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 applications 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).
Imports of zinc and products in the first quarter of 2025 decreased by 17.8% to $9.75 million ($3.74 million in March).
Exports increased sixfold to $266 thousand ($89 thousand in March), while in 2024, the figure was $44 thousand for the same period.
At the end of 2024, imports amounted to $58.6 million (+27.5%), exports – $563 thousand (+4.3 times).
Pure zinc metal is used to restore precious metals, protect steel from corrosion and for other purposes.
