Purchase prices of pork (live weight) have fallen since the end of 2015 by over 10% or UAH 3 per kilogram, reaching UAH 25-26 per kg on average, President of the Association of Pig Breeders of Ukraine Artur Loza has said.

"The quick fall in the prices of pork arouses alarm with industrial producers. Since the end of 2015 the purchase price of first class pigs fell by over 10% or UAH 3 per kg," he said at a press conference in Kyiv on Thursday.

He said that the main reason of this situation is a decline in internal demand and the pressure on the market due to the closure of the major exports channel for Ukrainian pork – the Russian market where 96% of total pork supplies abroad by Ukraine was shipped.

"Today the pig breeding sector is on the verge of catastrophe, as the price on the market is very low – UAH 24.60 per kg," Manager of the Pig Breeding Department at Agrarian Companies 2004 private enterprise Oleksandr Vakhnovan said.

He said that 70% of the cash cost of pork are expenses on fodder, and 30% are wages and expenses on maintenance of premises for breeding pigs.

Vakhnovan said that the prices fell as the processors that were oriented to the Russian market cut the prices.

Loza said that in 2015, Ukrainian agricultural companies increased pig breeding by 3.5%, to 582,200 tonnes in live weight, sales for slaughtering grew by 6%, to 547,800 tonnes. The key exports direction after the closure of the Russian market could be Asian and African countries. The main importers of pork are Japan, China, Russia and other countries. Supplies to the EU are unlikely, as the EU is the second largest exporter of pork in the world.