According to the data of customs statistics, in October 2014 Ukraine exported about 300 tons of cheese. At the same time, its imports amounted to 940 tons, this was reported in the the Association “Ukrainian Agribusiness Club” (UCAB).

The total imports of cheese to Ukraine for ten months of 2014 reached 9,7 thousand tons to the amount of  US $ 57,6 million. Comparison analysis of the indicators with the similar rates of the previous year points at the reduction of cheese imports by 37%. This is first of all caused by hryvnia devaluation that resulted in price growth on imported cheeses, the largest share of which is supplied from Poland, Germany, France and Holland.

The Russian ban has led to an increase in stock of cheese produced in Ukraine. However, despite the saturation of the Ukrainian market and devaluation, which caused advance in prices for cheeses supplied from abroad, imports of this product to Ukraine has remained high and three times higher than exports volume.

Cheese has always been the most exported dairy products in Ukraine, but from January to October this year only 18,3 thousand tons were sold at the external markets, which is 2,4 times lower than in 2013 and has the record-breaking low performance for the last 10 years.

"Much has been said now about reduction of cheese exports and searching for new sales market, but scant attention is given to domestic market. The purchasing power of Ukrainians is currently low, but every crisis sooner or later comes to its ends and customer loyalty to the product forms over the years. Therefore, reconquering the share of the Ukrainian market from suppliers of imported products may be the supplementary approach for the Ukrainian producers of cheese. Tastes and preferences of consumers are changing and should be studied,"- said the expert on Agricultural Markets of UCAB Alina Zharko.

Association "Ukrainian Agribusiness Club"  

3 floor, 146 Zhylianska Str.

01032 Kyiv, Ukraine

Phone/Fax: +380 44 2362097/79

[email protected] 

Tetyana Kotyk 

www.ucab.ua 

The Association "Ukrainian Agribusiness Club" (UCAB) www.ucab.ua  was founded in 2007 to protect the economic and professional interests of players of agribusiness in Ukraine. UCAB is a unique platform in Ukraine for establishing business contacts between the leaders of agribusiness, improvement their work and dialogue with the government. UCAB actively supports Ukrainian producers in establishing and maintaining international business relations. The Association consists of the largest producers and processors of agricultural products in Ukraine.