Ukraine imported USD 165M worth of dairy products in H1 2021 – expert

In the first six months of 2021, Ukraine produced 5.6% less milk than in the same period last year, while the import of dairy products was growing. The level of state support does not meet the needs of the industry development.

Head of Ukrainian Union of Dairy Enterprises Vadym Chaharovsky said this at a press conference entitled "The further development of Ukrainian meat and dairy industry will be determined by the effectiveness of state support," Ukrinform reports.

"If we talk about the dairy industry, we can say that it is in a deep crisis. And statistics for the first half of this year show that this crisis is only getting worse," he said.

Thus, in the first six months of 2021, milk was produced by 5.6% less than in the same period last year, and the number of cows in Ukraine decreased to 1.66 million.

Also, there was a decrease by almost 12% in the receipt of raw materials for processing, which led to a noticeable reduction in the production of butter, curd products, and skimmed milk powder in Ukraine.

At the same time, imports of dairy products increased. In the first half of this year, it reached USD 165 million, which is USD 25 million more than in the same period last year.

"The current level of state support, which is about UAH 1.2 billion, does not meet the needs of both dairy farming and the industry as a whole," the expert added.

As Ukrinform reported, according to the State Statistics Service, the supply of raw milk to Ukrainian processing enterprises in 2020 decreased by 7.6% compared to 2019 - to 3.51 million tonnes.

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