Hopes on essential increase of sales on the eve of New Year will come true not for all cheese makers this year, though they expect to reduce the stocks essentially. Moreover they hope for traditional pre-holiday increase of prices.

A number of the companies already lifted the prices by about 5%. Traditional cheeses are now offered to distributors at UAH 64-67/kg. Plants sell the products to networks at UAH 74-77/kg. Prices exceed UAH 85/kg in shops.

At the time when internal prices are slightly increased, sellers are ready to lower them for export. Price of 50% fat content cheese at USD 4500/t is already considered as quite good. It may be that Ukrainian cheese makers would sell the product at USD 4000/t if someone wants to buy big volume.

But big volumes of cheese have not been bought for a long time already. Russian market is closed, Kazakhstan is oversupplied. Ukraine exported only 300 tonnes of cheese in November, without deliveries to Crimea (in November 2013 the volume made 5200 tonnes). 570 tonnes were supplied to Crimea last month.

Export of cheese products was reduced by a few times (to about 1000 tonnes) as a result of continuous struggle of Russian supervising services.

Not many operators count on improvement of the situation in foreign trade. There will be no progress without Russian market, and the Kremlin remains categorical. There is a small hope that new authorities of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy will at least begin dialogue focussing on renewal of trade with Russia.

infagro.com.ua