According to the results for January 2026, dairy enterprises of all categories in Ukraine produced 421,200 tons of raw milk, which is 11.8% less than in December 2025 and 7% less than in January last year, according to the Association of Milk Producers (AMP), citing preliminary data from the State Statistics Service.
The industry association explained that the decline in production in January was caused by prolonged blackouts and the limited ability of processing enterprises to accept raw materials during power outages.
At the same time, the industrial sector recorded growth: agricultural enterprises produced 269.9 thousand tons of milk, which is 4% more than in January 2025. The share of enterprises in the overall production structure was 64%.
On the other hand, there was a significant decline in private households – to 151.3 thousand tons, which is 21.7% less than in the same period last year and 26.7% less than in December.
According to the Ministry of Economy, Environment, and Agriculture, the negative dynamics in the household sector are due to a further reduction in the number of cows and a shortage of electricity due to shelling, which makes the processing process more expensive. In total, milk production in Ukraine amounted to 6.8 million tons in 2025 (4% less than in 2024).
Despite the general challenges, industrial milk production increased in 13 regions in January 2026. The highest growth rates were recorded in Rivne (+26%), Lviv (+15%), Ivano-Frankivsk (+14%), and Ternopil (+12%) regions. In the Volyn region, volumes increased by 9%. Positive dynamics were also recorded in the Zhytomyr, Kyiv, Khmelnytskyi, Vinnytsia, Mykolaiv, Cherkasy, Chernihiv, and Poltava regions.
The business association noted that farmers are forced to spend more money on their own electricity generation. Due to long blackouts, there were interruptions in the shipment of raw milk from dairy farms to milk processing enterprises.
“In the context of the crisis, dairy farms may revise their investment plans for 2026, as it is difficult to increase raw milk production during blackouts, and a significant recovery in demand for dairy products on the domestic market is unlikely in the short term,” the Milk Producers Association predicts.
