The Ukrainian Stock Breeders Association says the prices of dairy products in Ukraine have been at the peak since September 2020, and the trend will continue for at least the entire first quarter.
A number of factors caused such a situation. The major one is a poor harvest of the crops included in the cows’ diet, namely maize (both grains and green mass), alfalfa, grain crops, sunflower and soybeans.
“The main criterion for setting the price of milk is its cost, which has increased significantly since the beginning of autumn of 2020. Production costs have grown for two main reasons. First, it is the low quality of bulk feed due to the current poor harvest of silage crops across Ukraine. Secondly, grain and protein ingredients (soybeans and sunflowers) have also risen in price over the poor harvest,” the Association press service quoted Olha Loza, a cattle technologist with the Ukrainian Stock Breeders Association and AVA Group, as saying.
As a result, producers refuse to sell raw materials at old prices. Thus, the trend will remain in place for at least the first quarter of 2021, while cows are fed with silage harvested in autumn 2020, which has a relatively low nutritional value.
“On the other hand, the price of the protein group (grain crops, soybeans and sunflowers) may fluctuate, but in spring, there will be a shortage of such raw materials, which may provoke a new peak in their prices. Therefore, we should not expect a drop in milk prices,” the expert added. (UNIAN/Business World Magazine)