The Ministry of Finance (MinFin) placed UAH 4.2bn ($101m) of hryvnia-denominated bonds at a primary auction yesterday.

Production of crude steel in Ukraine averaged 17.8 kt per day in March (-13% m-o-m), totaling 551 kt for the month (-3.7% m-o-m, -9.9% y-o-y). In 1Q25, production totaled 1.7 Mt (+2.7% y-o-y). Finished and semi-finished steel output stood at 478 kt in March (+0.3% m-o-m, -2.1% y-o-y) and 1.4 Mt in 1Q25 (+3.3% y-o-y). Hot metal production totaled 563 kt last month (+3.5% m-o-m, +4.6% y-o-y) and 1.7 Mt in 1Q25 (+7.1% y-o-y). Among individual producers, Metinvest’s Zaporizhstal JV made 270 kt of crude steel last month (+15% m-o-m, +3.9% y-o-y), accounting for 49% of total monthly production, and 574 kt in 1Q25 (+2.4% y-o-y). Its hot metal production totaled 297 kt (+12% m-o-m, +8.6% y-o-y) and finished and semi-finished steel output stood at 226 kt (+15% m-o-m, +3.0% y-o-y).

The stock of outstanding hryvnia-denominated loans issued by Ukrainian banks rose by 2.6% m-o-m to UAH 880bn in March following a 2.2% increase in February, bringing the y-o-y growth rate to +18%. F/X-denominated loans inched down by 0.1% m-o-m to $6.1bn last month, sliding by 3.7% y-o-y.

US President Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff met with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday, their third meeting in two months, continuing to discuss “aspects of a Ukrainian settlement,” the Kremlin said.

Key highlights from last week: Russian forces made new tactical advances in several front-line sectors, with Donetsk region and Kursk-Sumy border area remaining the most active fighting zones. Russia conducted another deadly missile attack on a large Ukrainian city yesterday, killing 34 and injuring almost 120 people in Sumy. European allies pledged continued military support for Ukraine at Friday’s meeting of around 50 countries comprising the Ukraine Defense Contact Group. German chancellor-in-waiting Friedrich Merz said Germany remained willing to send its Taurus long-range missiles to Ukraine.

Ukraine’s domestic military production rose to $9bn in 2024, tripling from $3bn in 2023 and contributing one-third to real GDP growth, Minister of Strategic Industries Herman Smetanin said on Saturday. According to Smetanin, the total production capacity of Ukraine’s defense sector was much higher last year at $20bn, up sharply from $3bn in 2022, and will grow to $35bn in 2025.

Ukraine’s merchandise trade deficit provisionally stood at $3.5bn in March, widening sharply from a monthly average of $2.5bn in January-February. Imports jumped by 24% m-o-m and 21% y-o-y to $7.2bn, fully offsetting 18% growth in exports, to $3.7bn (+13% y-o-y). In 1Q25, the merchandise trade gap increased to $8.5bn from $5.9bn in 1Q24 as imports rose 16% y-o-y to $18.5bn while exports were flat at $10bn.

Ukraine exported 8.5 Mt of iron ore in 1Q25, down 5.7% y-o-y. This implies a recovery in March, with volumes up 18% m-o-m to 2.9 Mt (still -13% y-o-y) following a 21% m-o-m slump in February. In value terms, 1Q25 iron ore exports reached $0.7bn (+20% y-o-y), with March volumes up 18% m-o-m to $238m (-23% y-o-y). Steel exports remained under pressure, totaling 0.9 Mt in 1Q25 (-12% y-o-y). March volumes fell 6.6% m-o-m to 300 kt (-1.6% y-o-y), following a 12% increase in February. Export values stood at $0.5bn in 1Q25 (-17% y-o-y), implying a 2.8% m-o-m decline in March to $167m (-10% y-o-y).

Ukraine’s headline CPI rose by 1.5% m-o-m in March, accelerating from 0.8% in February and pushing the y-o-y tally to 14.6% from 13.4% a month earlier. Core inflation, which excludes administratively regulated tariffs and prices of raw foods and energy, increased by 1.4% m-o-m, up from 0.7% in February and bringing the y-o-y rate to 12.4% from 12.0%.

Ukraine has received EUR 1.0bn of aid from the EU, the third tranche of the bloc’s EUR 18.1bn special macro-financial assistance (MFA) program that comprises its contribution to the G7-led $50bn Extraordinary Revenue Acceleration (ERA) initiative backed by proceeds from immobilized Russian sovereign assets held in the EU. Similar to the EU’s previous ERA disbursements of EUR 3.0bn in January and EUR 1.0bn in March, the latest tranche has a maturity of up to 45 years and will go towards reimbursing critical budget expenditures, both social and military, as well as finance reconstruction. The European Commission (EC) reiterated its readiness to front-load the remaining part of its ERA funds in line with Ukraine’s needs.

Naftogaz acting CEO Roman Chumak said the company has restored around half of its facilities that were damaged by Russian drone and missile attacks in February and early March.

The Ministry of Finance placed UAH 7.5bn ($203m) of hryvnia-denominated bonds at a primary auction yesterday, in line with a UAH 7.0bn ($169m) sale a week earlier.

Belgium announced yesterday EUR 1bn ($1.1bn) in military support for Ukraine in 2025, joining other European countries which unveiled sizable assistance packages earlier this year. In particular, military aid announcements for Ukraine in recent weeks have included $8bn from Norway, EUR 2bn ($2.2bn) from the Netherlands, $1.6bn from Sweden, and EUR 1bn ($1.1bn) from Denmark.

Vodafone Ukraine (VFU), the country’s second-largest mobile operator, held a conference call to discuss its 2024 results published on Apr. 4. The company expects its 2025 EBITDA margin at around 50%, as a higher ARPU driven by recent tariff increases will be offset by rising electricity and labor costs.

NBU gross foreign reserves rose by 5.6% m-o-m (+$2.2bn) to $42.4bn in March, being equivalent to 5.2 months of prospective goods and services imports, the central bank said. The official exchange rate of the hryvnia to the US dollar was unchanged m-o-m at UAH 41.5:USD, up 1.4% YTD but down 5.4% y-o-y.

Ferrexpo reported 1Q24 pellet production of 1.3 Mt, down 10% q-o-q and 26% y-o-y, including 1.1 Mt of premium 65% pellets, 161 kt of pellets made from third-party ore, and 82 kt of DRI pellets. Quarterly concentrate production tripled q-o-q to 778 kt (+223% y-o-y). Total production thus came in at 2.1 Mt, up 20% q-o-q and 3.5% y-o-y.