Ukraine’s export of butter increased by 50.8% to 2.568 thousand tons, in monetary terms – by 44.4%, to $13.891 million. Imports of this products fell by 3.8 times, to 182 tons, in monetary terms – 3.3 times, to $ 1.362 million.
Most of the butter was exported to Moldova (27.97% of supplies in monetary terms), Azerbaijan (19.10%) and Israel (13.55%). Imports came from Germany (48.94%), France (17.09%) and Poland (12.84%).
Milk and dairy products (especially butter) were most often falsified among food products in the first quarter of 2021, and the most common violation in the production of butter is the presence of non-dairy fats, the State Service of Ukraine on Food Safety and Consumer Protection said.
According to the agency, the second common type of violation this year is the inconsistency of food labeling.
The service clarified that since the beginning of the year, it has carried out 85 scheduled and 2,900 unscheduled inspections. As a result, more than 31 tonnes of products were withdrawn from circulation, including 6 tonnes of milk and dairy products, 4.7 tonnes of fish, 3.3 tonnes of poultry, 2 tonnes of meat and meat products. The department made 49 decisions to suspend the circulation of food products, transferred 11 cases to law enforcement agencies and issued fines to violators in the amount of over UAH 1.6 million.
“The food products that Ukrainian consumers buy must be safe and meet all legislative norms and requirements. We must protect consumers. Work in this direction will only intensify,” head of the department Vladyslava Mahaletska said.
As reported, the State Service of Ukraine on Food Safety and Consumer Protection in March introduced a unified quality standard for raw milk, within the framework of which the Milk Module was launched – software for the automatic collection of research results for dairy raw materials.
According to Mahaletska, the Milk Module calculates the level of total bacterial contamination and the number of somatic cells in milk raw materials. Milk producing farms and milk preparation points in nine regions of Ukraine are involved in the raw milk control program. The project is already being implemented in Kharkiv, Vinnytsia, Mykolaiv and Poltava regions, while Khmelnytsky, Donetsk, Dnipropetrovsk, Kyiv, Volyn and Sumy regions are ready for its launch.
Exports of Ukrainian butter decreased 43.7%, to 8,540 tonnes, and in monetary terms 40.5%, to $37.43 million.
Import of this product in the reporting period amounted to 9,010 tonnes ($35.38 million) against 1,330 tonnes ($7.19 million) in January-September 2019.
According to the ministry, export of milk and cream (condensed) in the first nine months of 2020 decreased 30.3%, to 21,540 tonnes.
Ukraine supplied condensed milk and cream for a total of $43.6 million, which is 33.5% less than in January-September last year.
Import of this group of goods increased 3.2-fold, to 4,870 tonnes, in monetary terms by 3.3 times, to $10.95 million.
Export of butter from Ukraine in January-November of this year decreased by 37.5%, to 17,120 tonnes, in money terms by 37.5%, to $17.12 million. Import of this product, according to the service, rose by 2.5 times, to 2,450 tonnes (for $12.27 million). In January-November, export of milk and cream (condensed) slightly rose to 34,160 tonnes. Ukraine supplied condensed milk and cream for a total of $72.28 million, which is 29% more than in January-November 2018. Imports of this group of goods slightly increased to 2,160 tonnes (for $4.84 million).
The Ukrproduct Group, a large Ukrainian producer of packaged butter and processed cheese, saw GBP 0.74 million of net profit in H1, 2019 that is 1.8 times more than over the same period in 2018.
According to the company’s report posted on the London Stock Exchange, Ukrproduct revenue saw 1.5-fold rise, reaching GBP 22.24 million, and gross profit grew by 1.55 times, up to GBP 1.93 million.
Through the first six months of 2019 operating profit of the company totaled GBP 0.4 million compared with operating loss of GBP 0.19 million in H1 2018.
As at June 30, 2019, the group had total liabilities of GBP 16.8 million against GBP 15.1 million in 2018, net assets and net assets of GBP 1.3 million million with cash balances of GBP 0.2 million.
According to the group, the main drivers of revenue growth were butter, beverages and processed cheese. The Company estimates that Ukrproduct’s butter market share in Ukraine has increased by approximately 3% to 10.1% when comparing H1 2019 with H1 2018, whilst market share in processed cheese and processed cheese products has decreased by approximately 0.3% to 8.5% when comparing H1 2019 with H1 2018.
“However, in the first half of 2019, Ukrproduct became the top exporter of processed cheese in Ukraine. Hard cheese sales decreased by 2%, whilst sales of bulk & packaged spreads increased by 17%,” the group said.
As the group said, sales of kvass beverage improved, driven by an active marketing strategy and the launch of a new product containing natural ingredients of juice and mint.
The most significant portion of the Group’s revenue comes from selling packaged butter and supplementary products, which represented 57.2% in the first half of 2019 and 45.9% in first half of 2018 of total revenue for the relevant periods.
Export sales of Ukrproduct increased due to rising export sales in supplementary products, however, export sales of packaged butter and spreads decreased overall. Skimmed milk products exports continue to decline as a result of worldwide prices being lower than domestic market prices.
The Group continues to expand export sales into non-dairy products: beverages and other food commodities.
Ukrproduct Group produces branded dairy goods (the Nash Molochnyk, Narodny Produkt, Vershkova Dolyna and other trademarks).
