Imports of goods to Ukraine from January to March 2026 increased by 26% in monetary terms compared to the same period last year—from $18.5 billion to $23.4 billion, while exports totaled $10.1 billion compared to $9.9 billion a year ago, according to data released by the State Customs Service of Ukraine (SCSU).
“At the same time, taxable imports amounted to $16.2 billion, accounting for 69% of the total volume of imported goods. The tax burden per 1 kg of taxable imports in January–March 2026 was $0.54/kg,” the agency stated in a post on its Telegram channel on Monday.
According to the published data, the largest volumes of goods were imported into Ukraine from China ($6.3 billion), Poland ($2.2 billion), and Turkey ($1.6 billion).
The largest exports from Ukraine went to Poland ($1.1 billion), Turkey ($840 million), and Germany ($659 million).
Of the total volume of goods imported in January–March 2026, 71% consisted of machinery, equipment, and transportation—$9.5 billion (upon customs clearance of these goods, 53.9 billion UAH, or 26% of customs revenue, was paid to the budget), fuel and energy products—$3.8 billion (UAH 77.3 billion was paid, or 37% of customs revenue), and chemical industry products—$3.4 million (UAH 28.2 billion was paid during customs clearance, or 13% of customs revenue).
The top three most exported goods from Ukraine included food products—$6.3 billion, metals and metal products—$929 million, and machinery, equipment, and transportation—$848 million.
The State Customs Service added that in January–March 2026, 509.5 million UAH was paid to the budget during customs clearance of exports of goods subject to export duties.
Imports of power generation units and rotating electrical converters to Ukraine in January–March 2026 fell by 31% compared to the same period in 2025—to $298.7 million, according to data from the State Customs Service.
According to statistical data, in March, imports of this equipment decreased by 11% compared to March 2025 and by 41.9% compared to February 2026—to $78.6 million.
In the first quarter of this year, electric generators and converters were most frequently imported from Romania—$62.7 million, accounting for 21% of total imports of these products—China—$55.4 million, or 18.5%—and the Czech Republic—$50.3 million, or 16.8%.
A year earlier, the largest suppliers were the Czech Republic with $85.7 million in shipments, the United States with $77.3 million, and Austria with $68.7 million.
Exports of electric generators from Ukraine in January–March 2026 were negligible, totaling $0.44 million.
As reported, in late July 2024, Ukraine exempted imports of electric generator equipment and batteries from customs duties and VAT. According to the State Customs Service, imports of electric generators and converters grew 2.3 times in 2025 compared to 2024, reaching $1.69 billion.
Imports of electric batteries and separators to Ukraine in January–March 2026 increased 3.8-fold compared to the same period in 2025—to $833.9 million, according to data from the State Customs Service.
The main supplier of these products in the first quarter was China, from which $736.8 million worth of batteries were imported, accounting for 88.4% of total imports. Products were also supplied from the Czech Republic ($19.7 million) and Taiwan ($11.9 million).
In January–March of last year, the largest suppliers were China with a 79.2% share, Bulgaria with 5.3%, and Taiwan with 3.8%.
In March 2026, battery imports increased 4.4-fold compared to March 2025, but decreased by 8.6% compared to February of this year—to $282 million.
At the same time, battery exports from Ukraine over the three-month period totaled $11.4 million, compared to $11 million a year earlier. The main export destinations were Poland — $3.3 million, France — $2 million, and Germany — $1.7 million.
As reported, at the end of July 2024, Ukraine exempted imports of electric generator equipment and batteries from customs duties and VAT. By the end of 2025, battery imports into Ukraine had grown by 55% compared to 2024—to $1.48 billion.
Source: https://expertsclub.eu
Ukraine, which entered the 2025/26 heating season with gas reserves of 13.2 billion cubic meters, imported an additional 4.6 billion cubic meters to get through it, First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Energy Denys Shmyhal said.
“Ukraine has successfully completed the heating season, despite Russia’s numerous attempts to destroy our energy system. This was achieved, in particular, thanks to the accumulation of sufficient resources,” he wrote on Saturday in a Telegram post following the results of a meeting of the Winter Headquarters for the Elimination of the Consequences of the Energy Emergency.
The Minister of Energy noted that the capacity of the Trans-Balkan Corridor had been increased to 4.2 billion cubic meters of gas per year
Shmyhal also reported that in 2025, Ukrainian gas production amounted to 16.97 billion cubic meters, which is 2.4 billion cubic meters more than forecast, with the private sector demonstrating growth of over 14%.
He added that all nine nuclear power plant units were operational with a total installed capacity of 7,835 MW, and thanks to the maximum electricity import capacity being increased to a record level of 2,450 MW, approximately 3.6 billion kWh were imported in December–February.
The country had sufficient coal reserves throughout the winter: 2.4 million tons of coal were stockpiled, which is 0.8 million tons more than planned, the First Deputy Prime Minister also noted.
He did not specify what gas and coal reserves Ukraine had at the end of the heating season.
According to former Energy Minister Olha Buslavets, since mid-March of this year, gas withdrawal from UGS facilities has shifted to a small injection of about 2 million cubic meters per day. Natural gas reserves in Ukraine’s UGS facilities stood at 9.6 billion cubic meters at the end of March, which is 4.0 billion cubic meters higher than last year, Buslavets wrote on Facebook.
The industry publication ExPro estimated gas production in 2024 at 19.12 billion cubic meters.
The volume of passenger car imports to Ukraine, including cargo-passenger vans and racing cars (HS code 8703), amounted to $589.9 million in January-February 2026, which is 18% less than the figure for the same period in 2025 (nearly $720 million).
According to statistics released by the State Customs Service of Ukraine, passenger car imports in February fell by 18.1% compared to February 2025—to $315.9 million—but were 15.3% higher than in January 2026.
The top three suppliers of passenger cars to Ukraine in January-February were Japan, the United States, and Germany, while in the previous year these were the same countries, but Germany was the largest exporter, followed by the United States and Japan.
Specifically, during this period, car imports from Japan increased by 45.4% to $114.9 million, and their share in the structure of car imports rose to 19.5% from 11%.
Car imports from the United States to Ukraine totaled $104.4 million (down 14.5%), and from Germany, $91.5 million (down 40%).
Imports of passenger cars from other countries in January–February totaled $279.1 million, compared to $366.6 million in January of last year.
At the same time, in the first two months of the year, Ukraine exported such vehicles worth only $0.6 million, whereas last year, a total of $1.9 million worth were exported to the UAE (90.5%), the Czech Republic, and Moldova.
According to the State Customs Service, passenger cars accounted for nearly 4% of Ukraine’s total goods imports in January-February of this year, compared to 6.37% during the same period last year.
As reported, in 2025, passenger cars worth nearly $6.15 billion were imported into Ukraine, which is 40.2% more than in 2024. The top three exporters were the United States, Germany, and China. Cars worth $10.1 million were exported (2.7 times less).
The significant increase in passenger car imports to Ukraine in the final months of 2025 was driven by news that VAT exemptions on electric vehicle imports would be abolished as of January 1, 2026, whereas imports have declined significantly since the start of this year.
In January-February 2026, Ukraine increased imports of aluminum and aluminum products by 15.8% to $86.371 million (in February – $46.957 million).
Exports of aluminum and aluminum products in January-February of this year increased by 14.2% compared to the same period last year, to $22.793 million (in February – $11.063 million).
In 2025, Ukraine increased imports of aluminum and aluminum products by 15.3% to $514.098 million.
Exports of aluminum and aluminum products in 2025 increased by 22.9% compared to 2024, reaching $152.919 million.
Aluminum is widely used as a structural material. The main advantages of aluminum are its lightness, malleability, corrosion resistance, high thermal conductivity, and the non-toxicity of its compounds. In particular, these properties have made aluminum extremely popular in the production of kitchen utensils, aluminum foil in the food industry, and for 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 construction and packaging production—aluminum cans and foil—the largest consumer of metal is the energy sector.
For a more detailed overview of global aluminum production from 1970 to 2024, see the video on the Experts Club YouTube channel.
