The Ukrainian Union of Dairy Enterprises appealed to the government with a demand to protect the domestic dairy industry and apply mirror measures to Polish dairy products, in particular, to ban its imports for the period of the ban on the export of Ukrainian dairy products to Poland.

"In the first quarter of 2023, Ukraine exported dairy products worth $50.34 million, of which exports to Poland brought the state $4.81 million, which accounted for 9.6% of total sales in foreign markets," said Arsen Didur, the executive director of the union.

According to him, deliveries from Poland occupied the lion's share in Ukraine's total imports of almost all types of dairy products, except for butter and milk fats. In January-March of the current year, Ukraine imported 3,360 tonnes of Polish-made cheeses in the amount of $18.45 million, which is almost four times higher than the cost of the entire Ukrainian export of dairy products to Poland.

At the same time, Ukraine imported dairy products for the same period in the amount of $55.42 million, and the volume of imports from Poland amounted to $24.70 million, or 44.6% of its total volume.

"The association is disappointed with the result of the Ukrainian-Polish negotiations on the export and transit of Ukrainian agricultural products to Poland, according to which transit is allowed, and an embargo is imposed on exports," the association's appeal to the government posted on the website says.

Ukrainian producers insist that the result of the negotiations and the imposition of a ban on the supply of dairy products from Ukraine to Poland thereby jeopardizes the domestic dairy industry.