Price of dairy products in Ukraine in period of seasonal fall of milk prices to remain stable, says expert
Kyiv, February 19 (Interfax-Ukraine) – One should not anticipate the traditional fall in the prices of dairy products in the spring-summer period in Ukraine this year, as the sector operated at loss in the winter months, Chairman of the Board at the Union of Dairy Companies of Ukraine Vadym Chaharovsky has said.
"There will not be a fall in prices of products on shelves. No producer will reduce the price: they have to compensate for the losses they've accumulated over the [past] four months," he said at a press conference at Interfax-Ukraine on Monday.
The expert said that at present, many processors have to operate at loss due to the high price of milk, at some UAH 4.00-4.50 per liter. He said that the fall in purchase prices of milk in Ukraine would start no earlier than April 1, 2013.
Chaharovsky said that inflation among other things would prevent processors from reducing the price of dairy products.
The expert is confident that the seasonal fluctuation of prices of milk in the country should not exceed 10%.
Traditionally in the spring-summer period Ukraine has a large fall in prices of milk due to its overproduction. At the end of August 2012, the government introduced a minimum purchase prices of second class milk with basis fat content bought from private households at UAH 2.20 per kilogram (value added tax not included).
Ukraine in 2012 increased milk output by 2.7%, to 11.7 million tonnes.