Associations of meat and dairy products processors have asked the government to develop and implement a national program for the development and support of the dairy and meat industry to prevent further deepening of the crisis in their activities, Head of the Ukrainian Union of Dairy Enterprises Vadym Chaharovsky said at a press conference at Interfax-Ukraine on Tuesday.
“The level of state support for animal husbandry, and we, I emphasize, we all cooperate with our partners-livestock breeders, at the level of UAH 1.2 billion does not meet the development needs of both dairy cattle breeding and the dairy industry,” he said.
According to the head of the union, the crisis in the industry is characterized by a 5.6% decrease in milk production in the first half of 2021 compared to the first half of 2020, the number of cows fell by 5.8%, to 1.67 million heads, a decrease in the amount received for processing milk was 12%. He said that the production of butter, cheese products, skimmed milk powder and casein decreased the most. The downward trend was aggravated by the growth of imports of dairy products over the specified period from $140 million to $165 million in money terms.
The head of the expert and analytical service of the union Leonid Tulush noted the need to develop program documents to support the dairy processing industry, since its share of the food industry of Ukraine decreased from 17% in 2010 to less than 10% in 2020. He said that the theses given in the agrarian block of the current National Economic Strategy until 2030 are correct, but the document does not contain a specific strategy for the development of the dairy industry.
“It should be taken into account that over time, milk from households will not be present at all in milk processing. Indeed, from 2024 new standards are being introduced, when processing will finally abandon milk from households due to its non-compliance with standards, which, by the way, will be tightened. We need a program document on how to survive in such conditions,” Tulush said.
To prevent crisis processes in the dairy industry of Ukraine, it is necessary to adopt a national program for the development of dairy farming and milk processing industry, the implementation of which will allow increasing the number of cows, production and processing of milk by 2030, Head of the Union of Dairy Enterprises of Ukraine Vadym Chaharovsky said at a press conference at Interfax-Ukraine on Tuesday.
“It is necessary to adopt a national program for the development of dairy farming and milk processing industry. We have already developed a concept for this program, and its main indicators are as follows: an increase in the number of cows to 2.3 million heads, an increase in milk output to 10 million tonnes, it is real, not the figure that our statistics gives, the growth of milk processing up to 8 million tonnes, while last year we processed 3.5 million tonnes,” the head of the union said.
According to him, the industry can achieve such indicators if it receives UAH 45 billion of government support for the period 2021-2030, similar to the practice existing in other countries.
At a press conference, Head of the Supervisory Board of CJSC Kulykivske Moloko (Kulykivka, Chernihiv region) Anatoliy Didur said that Ukrainian dairy products are uncompetitive and are being squeezed out of the Ukrainian market by imported ones, mainly produced by the EU. According to him, EUR 69 billion will be provided by the EU to the dairy industry support program for 2021-2027, and an increase in government support for Ukrainian milk producers and processors could increase the competitiveness of Ukrainian products.
In addition, the head of the union said that to overcome the crisis in the industry, it is necessary to conduct a special investigation into the growth of imports of dairy products to Ukraine, as well as introduce retaliatory safeguard measures against its exports from Belarus, which in 2016 joined the embargo imposed by the Russian Federation on the Ukrainian dairy products.
Chaharovsky said that milk producers and processors need a number of laws to be passed by parliament to stimulate the development of the dairy industry.
“It is necessary to amend the laws on quality and safety, where to define milk falsification as food fraud, and amend the Criminal Code, which criminalizes the falsification of dairy products,” Chaharovsky said.
He also noted the need to adopt a law on the main provisions of food trade, which provides for a fair distribution of the added value created by milk processing enterprises by the state, as well as the abolition of the current law on milk and dairy products.
“We need to help MPs in the near future to adopt bill No. 5425-d, which will return 20% VAT on dairy raw materials. It is also necessary to amend bill No. 5600 regarding household land plots, because in our opinion, its adoption will force the villagers keeping cattle to cut this livestock, because they will not be able to procure feed for themselves,” the head of the union said.
In addition, Chaharovsky announced the need to unite all public industry associations into one powerful lobbying organization.
“The practice, when multidisciplinary organizations lobbied and pushed some bills, ended. It showed that some laws were adopted against the wishes of the dairy industry. Therefore, we declare today that we will create a powerful organization that will lobby for the interests of our industry,” Chaharovsky said.
The State Service of Ukraine for Food Safety and Consumers’ Rights Protection has agreed on the form of the international veterinary certificate for milk and dairy export to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
This was reported on the website of the state service on June 24.
As reported, Ukraine agreed on certificates for export of dairy products to Oman and Qatar as well as for export of beef and products made of it to Saudi Arabia.
In 2018, Ukraine opened 85 export markets for various types of products and increased the number of enterprises that received the right to export food products of animal origin. A total of 126 producers of the country can export food products to EU countries.
The State Service of Ukraine for Food Safety and Consumers’ Rights Protection and the competent authority of the Sultanate of Oman have agreed on the requirements for exports of Ukrainian dairy products to Oman, the press service of the Ukrainian agency has said.
According to information on the website of the service, Ukrainian manufacturers must provide a veterinary certificate, a certificate of origin of products and a certificate of tests for radiation.
According to the agency, the work on the promotion of Ukrainian dairy products to the markets of other countries of the Persian Gulf continues.
As reported, Ukraine in 2018 opened 85 export markets for various types of products and increased the number of enterprises that received the right to export food of animal origin. Some 126 national producers are allowed to export food to EU countries.
