EN
We evaluated exchange integrals which describe the spin dependent coupling between effective mass electrons and localized spins in the IV-VI semi-magnetic semiconductors taking into account contributions from the direct Coulomb exchange as well as from the hybridization between band states and magnetic shells. The obtained constants compare favorably with the experimental values for both the Mn- and the Eu-based compounds. We also discuss some peculiarities of IV-VI semimagnetic semiconductors, which may render the virtual-crystal approximation invalid.