The production of fresh dairy products in Ukraine in May will be 17-20% lower compared to May last year, which corresponds to a reduction in the country’s population due to mass migration abroad during the war, and also correlates with the demand and solvency of Ukrainians.
“The current situation on the Ukrainian market of fresh dairy products can be called relatively stable. Most of the leading producers have increased output to the level of real demand, which stops growing due to a decrease in the population’s solvency in war conditions,” the website of the industry analytical agency Infagro reported on Wednesday.
According to him, the increase in the production of dairy products is now inexpedient, since in the event of a further increase in its production, dairy processors will have to stimulate sales through mass promotions in retail chains.
“Not all operators can now afford such marketing steps, and networks also pay less attention to such tools, there is not enough human resources. Moreover, in the face of a further rise in the cost of logistics, some companies intend to further increase prices, even if this leads to a decrease sales,” the agency said.
It noted that in May in the market of fresh dairy products, as in April, the leading positions will be held by national companies. At the same time, their production is unlikely to continue to grow in the summer months.
As reported, the profile association “Union of Dairy Enterprises of Ukraine” predicted a decline in milk production in Ukraine in 2022 by 13.3-15.9%, to 7.33-7.56 million tons from 8.73 million in 2021 due to for the Russian military invasion.
The competent authorities of Ukraine and Jordan have agreed on the form of a certificate for the export of milk and dairy products from Ukraine, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba has said.
“This week we opened another market, namely, the export of Ukrainian milk to Jordan. The competent authorities of the two states agreed on the form of a certificate for the export of milk and dairy products from Ukraine. The concrete result of the joint work of diplomats and specialists of the State Service on Food Safety and Consumer Protection,” Kuleba said at an online briefing on Thursday.
He said that Ukrainian dairy products are of very high quality and therefore are in great demand abroad. According to Kuleba, this is the third certificate agreed between Ukraine and Jordan in 2021.
“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs continues to systematically open new foreign markets for Ukrainian exporters together with the State Service on Food Safety and Consumer Protection. Each new open market provides additional opportunities for Ukrainian companies, the strengthening of our national currency, the arrival of foreign currency to Ukraine, new jobs, taxes to the budget, the best salaries for our citizens,” he said.
The Foreign Minister said that not only exporting companies will benefit from the expansion of Ukrainian goods abroad, but every citizen of Ukraine involved in economic activity.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine and the State Service for Food Safety and Consumer Protection have agreed with the competent authority of the State of Kuwait on the form of an export veterinary certificate for the supply of milk and dairy products to this country, the state food service said in a press release on Tuesday.
“The Gulf region, in particular Kuwait, is of interest to many Ukrainian food producers. I am pleased to announce that today we have created additional opportunities for them to earn money in this market thanks to the joint work of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the State Food Service. In the long term, this will also strengthen Ukraine’s position as a supplier of agricultural and food products to Kuwait,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said.
The form of this certificate is posted on the website of the State Service for Food Safety and Consumer Protection.
“The work on opening new export markets is extremely important, since an increase in Ukrainian exports is a guarantee of the economic growth of our state,” Head of the service Vladyslava Mahaletska said.
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.
Ukraine has been included in the list of countries from which exports of milk and dairy products (including butter and cheese) to Japan are allowed.
The relevant information is posted on the website of the State Service of Ukraine on Food Safety and Consumers’ Rights Protection.
In addition, requirements for exports of milk and/or dairy products to Japan are available on the website of the agency.
As reported, at the end of June 2019, the State Service of Ukraine on Food Safety and Consumers’ Rights Protection and the competent authority of Saudi Arabia agreed on the form of an international veterinary certificate for exports of milk and dairy products to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
The Milk Alliance Group in January-June 2019 increased sales of dairy products by 8% year-over-year, to UAH 2.92 billion.
“In the first half of this year, the situation was worse than planned. In particular, we processed only about 180,000 tonnes of milk against 207,000 tonnes in the same period last year,” Chairman of Milk Alliance’s Supervisory Board Serhiy Vovchenko told Interfax -Ukraine in an interview.
In the first half of 2019, the Milk Alliance increased the production of processed cheese by 19%, to 1,300 tonnes; that of ultra-pasteurized cream by 28%, to 1,300 tonnes; fermented cheese by 11%, to 2,000 tonnes; sour cream by 5%, to 5,300 tonnes; baby food products by 4%, to 5,500 tonnes. The output of milk in different types of packaging remained at last year’s level 27,000 tonnes.
“The output of fermented milk products fell slightly (by 2% to 14,700 tonnes). The production of butter and dry cheese whey fell by 30%, because, firstly, international prices of these products became unprofitable for us, and secondly, we did not make cheese products for export in the same volumes as in previous periods,” Vovchenko said.
In total, the group increased sales of dairy products for the six months of 2019 by 8%, to UAH 2.923 billion.
“We plan to slightly change the structure of capacity utilization in the second half of the year in order to make up the lost income in the first six months of the year. Thus, we should receive revenue at the level of UAH 6.2 billion,” he said.
He pointed out that the share of export earnings in Milk Alliance’s total sales now stands at 25%, the domestic market accounts for 75%.
