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.
