In its November forecast, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) reduced its estimate for Ukrainian corn exports in the 2026/27 marketing year (MY) by 2 million metric tons compared to October—to 20 million metric tons—while maintaining its production forecast at 31.8 million metric tons.
The relevant data are presented in the World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) report, released on November 10, 2026.
According to the report, the reduction in projected exports is accompanied by a significant increase in expected corn stocks in Ukraine.
Specifically, the USDA raised its estimate of ending stocks for the 2026/27 marketing year from 5.53 million to 7.53 million metric tons, or by 36.2%.
For comparison, corn stocks at the start of the current marketing year stood at 2.92 million metric tons. Thus, according to the USDA’s forecast, they could increase approximately 2.6-fold by the end of the season.
U.S. analysts estimate domestic consumption of Ukrainian corn at 7.2 million metric tons, including 5.5 million metric tons for feed purposes. Both figures remained unchanged compared to the October forecast.
The USDA cites restrictions on the supply of Ukrainian agricultural products to foreign markets as the main reason for the downward revision of its export estimate.
The report notes that the war in the Black Sea region and the associated logistical difficulties continue to affect international grain trade.
Globally, the USDA lowered its forecast for corn trade in the 2026/27 marketing year from 210.72 million to 209.38 million metric tons.
In addition to Ukraine, export forecasts have been reduced for the United States and India. At the same time, an increase in shipments is expected from Argentina, for which the export estimate has been raised from 38 million to 40 million metric tons.
The United States remains the world’s largest corn exporter with a projected volume of 83.19 million metric tons, while Brazil is expected to export 43 million metric tons.
With a forecast of 20 million metric tons, Ukraine remains one of the world’s leading suppliers of this crop.
The USDA estimates global corn production in the 2026/27 marketing year at approximately 1.292 billion metric tons, with ending stocks at 281.94 million metric tons.
The growth in corn stocks in Ukraine is occurring against the backdrop of a stable harvest forecast; however, actual export volumes will depend on the operation of seaports, rail and road logistics, as well as demand in international markets.
For corn, the marketing year in Ukraine runs from October to September of the following year.
Source: USDA, World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates, November 10, 2026, p. 23 (PDF).
In January–October of this year, Ukraine’s mining companies reduced exports of iron ore raw materials (IORM) by 32.6% in volume terms compared to the same period last year—to 17,916,342 metric tons from 26,565,296 metric tons.
According to statistics released by the State Customs Service (SCS) on Wednesday, 967,384 thousand metric tons of iron ore were exported in October, 1,174,008 thousand metric tons in September, in August—1,865,697 thousand metric tons of raw materials, in July—1,875,428 thousand metric tons, in June—2,021,299 thousand metric tons, in May—2,239,167 thousand metric tons of raw materials, in April – 2,163,837 thousand metric tons, in March – 2,300,467 thousand metric tons, in February – 1,254,516 thousand metric tons, in January – 2,054,539 thousand metric tons.
Over the first ten months of 2026, foreign exchange earnings from mineral ore exports decreased by 32.4% to $1,356,531,000.
Mineral resources were exported primarily to China (34.40% of shipments by value), Slovakia (21.65%), and Poland (17.1%).
In addition, in January–October 2026, Ukraine imported 246 metric tons of raw materials worth $74,000 from Italy (40.54%), the Netherlands (32.43%), and Poland (27.03%), whereas in January–October 2025, it imported 118,000 metric tons worth $86,000 from abroad.
As reported, Ukraine’s mining companies reduced ore exports in 2025 by 8% in volume terms compared to the previous year—to 30,995,363 metric tons from 33,699,722 metric tons, and foreign exchange earnings decreased by 16.6%—to $2,337,765 million from $2,803,223 million. Exports were primarily shipped to China (44.98% of shipments in monetary terms), Slovakia (17.15%), and Poland (16.09%).
In addition, in 2025, Ukraine imported $95,000 worth of raw materials totaling 130 metric tons from the Netherlands (46.32%), Italy (36.84%), and Norway (13.68%), whereas in the previous year it imported 2,042 metric tons worth $414,000
In January–October 2026, Ukrainian companies increased imports of copper and copper products by 16% in monetary terms compared to the same period last year, reaching $171.807 million.
According to statistics released by the State Customs Service of Ukraine on Wednesday, exports of copper and copper products rose by 20% over the ten-month period, reaching $100.734 million.
In October, copper imports totaled $15.408 million, while exports amounted to $13.034 million.
As previously reported, in 2025, Ukrainian companies increased imports of copper and copper products by 23.2% in monetary terms compared to 2024—to $173.453 million—while exports of copper and copper products rose by 17.7%—to $103.848 million.
Copper is widely used in electrical engineering, in the production of pipes, for creating alloys, in medicine, and in other industries.
Previously, the Experts Club Information and Analytical Center released a video on global copper production and leading producing countries – https://youtube.com/shorts/_h8iU50z8C0?si=a-XkgGEfeUxseQNa
Ukrainians’ attitudes toward Tunisia in August 2026 remain predominantly neutral: 67.3% of respondents hold this view. 17.8% of those surveyed view the country positively, while 6.9% view it negatively, according to the Experts Club information and analytical center.
According to the survey results, 4.5% of Ukrainians have a completely positive attitude toward Tunisia, while 13.3% have a mostly positive attitude. 67.3% chose a neutral response. 5.9% expressed a mostly negative attitude, 1% a completely negative one, and another 8% were undecided.
The balance between positive and negative assessments stands at plus 10.9 percentage points. Thus, positive attitudes outnumber negative ones by approximately 2.6 times. At the same time, three-quarters of respondents—including those who found it difficult to answer—do not express a clearly positive or negative assessment of the country.
Unlike most of the countries analyzed in previous reports, this study for March 2026 does not include a separate section on Tunisia; therefore, a direct comparison of the current results with those from the March survey based on this document is not possible. At the same time, the August data show that Tunisia’s public image in Ukraine remains largely neutral.
That said, Tunisia is of practical importance for Ukrainian exports. According to the results for the first half of 2026, Ukraine’s trade surplus with this country amounted to approximately $155.1 million. Tunisia was part of the group of markets in North Africa and the Middle East where Ukrainian exports exceeded imports.
ACTIVE GROUP, EXPERTS CLUB, EXPORTS, FOREIGN TRADE, NORTH AFRICA, PUBLIC OPINION, SOCIOLOGY, TUNISIA, UKRAINE
In January–October of this year, Ukraine increased its manganese ore exports 3.2-fold compared to the same period last year—to 44,450 thousand metric tons.
According to statistics released by the State Customs Service (SCS) on Wednesday, Ukraine exported 7,852 thousand metric tons of manganese ore in October of this year, 8,440 thousand metric tons in September, 3,511 thousand metric tons in August, in July—2,701 thousand metric tons, in June—2,350 thousand metric tons, in May—1,720 thousand metric tons, in April—5,319 thousand metric tons, in March—1,932 thousand metric tons, in February—6,072 thousand metric tons, and in January—4,553 thousand metric tons.
In monetary terms, exports of this raw material totaled $7,773 million from January through October (for the first 10 months of 2025—$2,214 million). Exports were shipped to Slovakia (87.92% of shipments in monetary terms) and Georgia (12.08%).
In January–October 2026, Ukraine imported 36,365 thousand metric tons of ore worth $5.629 million from Ghana (99.93%), China (0.05%), and Brazil (0.02%), whereas there were no imports last year.
As previously reported, Ukraine reduced its manganese ore exports by 50.4% in 2025 compared to the same period last year—to 22,281 thousand metric tons—but ramped up shipments in August–December. While shipments totaled 2,977 thousand metric tons over the first seven months of 2025, exports more than doubled in August, when 5,037 thousand metric tons were shipped; in September, they amounted to 1,725 thousand metric tons; in October, 3,993 thousand metric tons; in November—3,860 thousand metric tons, and in December—4,689 thousand metric tons.
In monetary terms, exports for the entire year 2025 fell by 45.2% compared to 2024—to $3,599 million. The majority of exports went to Slovakia (99.22% of shipments in monetary terms) and Poland (0.78%). Over the course of the year, the country imported 37,006 thousand metric tons from Ghana, worth $5.546 million. All shipments took place in November. In 2024, 84,293 thousand metric tons of ore were imported, worth $18.302 million.
The Pokrovsk Mining and Processing Plant (PGZK, formerly the Ordzhonikidze Mining and Processing Plant) and the Marganetsk Mining and Processing Plant (MGZK, both located in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast), which are part of the “Privat” Group, ceased the extraction and processing of raw manganese ore in late October–early November 2023, while the NZF and ZZF plants halted ferroalloy smelting. In the summer of 2024, the ferroalloy plants resumed production.
PGZK and MGZK did not produce any output in 2024, whereas in 2023, PGZK produced 160.31 thousand metric tons of manganese concentrate, and MGZK was idle.
In 2025, PGZK produced 63.9 thousand metric tons of manganese concentrate worth 342.138 million UAH and sold 25.4 thousand metric tons for 216.309 million UAH. In 2026, the plant plans to increase manganese concentrate production by a factor of 3.44 compared to the previous year—to 220 thousand metric tons.
In Ukraine, manganese ore is mined and processed by the Pokrovsk and Marganets Mining and Processing Plants.
The consumers of manganese ore are ferroalloy enterprises.
Imports of goods into Ukraine from January through October 2026 increased by 24% in monetary terms compared to the same period in 2025 — from $67.8 billion to $84.2 billion — and nearly reached the total import volume for all of 2025 ($84.8 billion), according to data from the Telegram channel of the State Customs Service of Ukraine (SCSU).
The situation with exports is the opposite—compared to the January–October 2026 figures, they decreased by 2.5%—from $33.2 billion to $32.4 billion, whereas in January–October 2024, they were even higher—$34.6 billion.
“At the same time, taxable imports totaled $58.3 billion, accounting for 69% of the total volume of imported goods. The tax burden per kilogram of taxable imports in January–October 2026 was $0.63/kg,” the SCS added.
As is traditional, the largest suppliers of goods to Ukraine were China—with over $25.6 billion, Poland—with over $7.9 billion, and Germany—with nearly $5.5 billion.
The largest destinations for Ukrainian exports were Poland—with nearly $4.1 billion, Germany—with nearly $2.4 billion, and Turkey—with over $2.3 billion.
Of the total volume of goods imported in January–October 2026, nearly 74% consisted of machinery, equipment, and transportation—over $38.9 billion (during customs clearance, over 214.3 billion UAH was paid to the budget, or nearly 29% of customs revenue), fuel and energy products—over $12.1 billion (over 252.5 billion UAH was paid to the budget, accounting for over 34% of customs revenue), and chemical industry products—nearly $10.9 billion (90.7 billion UAH was paid, accounting for over 12% of customs revenue).
The top three goods exported from Ukraine included food products—nearly $18.6 billion; metals and metal products—nearly $3.1 billion; and machinery, equipment, and transportation vehicles—nearly $3.0 billion.
“In January–October 2026, nearly 1.8 billion UAH was paid to the budget during customs clearance of exports subject to export duties,” the State Customs Service added.
