Decreased pork production in Ukraine
In 2012 Ukraine has seen a decrease in the production of pork, according to the data recently published by the State Statistics Service of Ukraine (Gosstat).
Thus, production of fresh or chilled pork has amounted 171,000 tonnes (a 7.1% drop compared to the level of 2011), while frozen amounted 7,000 tonnes (down by 13.9%).
At the same time, in 2012 Gostat reports that pork imports to Ukraine has increased 2.4 times compared to 2011 – up by 207,7000 tonnes. The country last year imported this kind of meat with the total value of US$ 446.032 million, which is 2.8 times more than in 2011
Favorable conditions for the import have led to the replacing of the Ukrainian products on the domestic market. Not the best raw pork is traditionally imported, but it is cheap and completely satisfies the local processing companies. High quality Ukrainian pork is intended for export.
As the result pork exports last year grew 61.5% and amounted to 20,200 tonnes. In monetary terms, it equaled US$ 92.6 million versus $ 57.6 million a year earlier.
The active export of cheap products has led to lower prices on the internal market. According to preliminary information, on average for Ukraine in early 2013, they were by 4-5% lower than at the beginning of 2012.
“The growth of the supply of imported meat has led to a decrease in the general level of prices for pork and beef, especially in the period of October-December of 2012. This led average prices for livestock in 2012 being lower than in 2011 by UAH 1.5-3 / kg (US$ 0.18-0.36), ” said Elizabeth Svyatkivskaya, expert of Ukrainian Agribusiness Club.
