Total supplies of fresh, chilled and frozen pork meat in April 2023 were 16% lower than in March and amounted to 424 tonnes, the association Pig Breeders of Ukraine said.
In monetary terms, Ukraine imported $1.03 million worth of pork in April, the industry association cited data from the State Customs Service on Wednesday.
According to analysts, the April figure was the lowest since 2018.
“In contrast to previous years, low import activity has created an atypical lever of support for domestic prices in the pork market, because raw materials from abroad are not yet creating competition to domestic ones,” the association noted.
Analysts explain this trend by the continuing increase in pork prices in the EU, which has lasted since January and, although it slowed down a little in April, but did not stop.
“It is more difficult for domestic importers to find affordable commodity items for the Ukrainian market,” – stated in the association, noting that the average cost of imported pork in April rose to $ 2.4 per kg compared to $ 1.88 per kg in March.
Overall, in January-April 2023 Ukraine received 3.58 thousand tons of chilled and frozen pork meat, which is 4.5 times less than during the same period in 2022.
