The deteriorating situation on the borders of Ukraine poses a significant threat to trade with Poland. The possible outbreak of armed conflict will lead to the disruption of foreign trade in cheese, cottage cheese and yogurt.
This is reported by ProAgro Group with reference to Forum Mleczarskie.
According to the research company Sparks Polska, only in the first half of 2021, Ukraine was the main recipient of Polish yogurt with a volume of 3.5 thousand tons worth $4.2 million, with a share of 17%. During the same period, 3.76 thousand tons of fresh cheese worth $4 million were imported to Ukraine from Poland, the share of exports of this category is 5.4%.
In this case, the Ministry of Economy of Ukraine since December 2021 has considered the appeal of 23 dairy factories united in the Union of Dairy Enterprises of Ukraine. It clearly states that the importation of cheese to Ukraine negatively affects the position of Ukrainian producers. The situation is similar to the last year, when a group of 14 producers requested a special investigation of the growth of imports to Ukraine in order to protect domestic producers.
The data given then showed that in 2020 about 47 thousand tons of cheese, 28 thousand tons of whole milk and 12 thousand tons of butter were imported to Ukraine from Poland. According to the State Customs Service, cheese imports to Ukraine increased from 23,700 tons in 2019 to 46,700 tons in 2020. Imports of milk (3.6 times), cream (3.3 times) and butter (2.5 times) also increased sharply in 2020.
