Milk producers should prepare for a less profitable year — Yarmak

Ukrainian milk producers should get ready for a much less profitable year than the previous one.

According to Andrey Yarmak, Economist of the Technical Cooperation Department at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), it is necessary to accelerate the work on creating processing facilities, which will be focused on the export of expensive and high-quality products.

"The index of conditional profitability of milk production in January 2018 decreased 4.1% compared to the January standard growth of 2-4%. The decrease in ICP occurred solely due to a noticeable increase in prices for feed and meal," the expert comments.

Andrei Yarmak also informed that in 2018 the production of high-quality milk will grow noticeably, and this will gradually depress prices, as marketing of finished products to export markets remains relatively primitive.

"The profit level in January was the second highest in the last 4 years, and 28% higher than in January 2016, so there are no reasons for sadness. In 2018, there will be no such high prices for vegetable oil in the world and in the EU, and therefore, there may not be such a powerful export of vegetable oil from Ukraine," he notes.

Reference: Ukraine in 2017 exported 14.06 thousand tons of milk for the amount of USD 9.73 million.