October 3, 2012

Following the crisis in 2011, the development of swine breeding in Ukraine is recovering owing to consumer demand.

Director of the Association of Pig Producers of Ukraine Artur Loza said, "There's currently a deficit on the market, and demand significantly outpaces domestic production. This can be confirmed by the price situation. We saw no major seasonal decline in prices for pork this year."

He said that the current price of pork of the first category at a level of UAH21-22 (US$2.57-2.7) per kilogramme was optimal for the market and would preserve balance on it. In other words, such a price threshold is encouraging farmers to increase production.

According to Dykun Global Consult analyst Yevhen Stetsenko, production, imports, while pork exports are currently growing in the country. For example, industrial production of meat as of September 1, 2012 reached 310,200 tonnes, compared to 289,300 tonnes on the same date in 2011.

Analysts believe that exports have until now had no significant effect on domestic prices and the situation with the provision of the domestic market. But it seems that this year will be indicative not only for foreign pork imports that reached 129,000 tonnes in January-August 2012, while last year it was 86,200 tonnes.