It used to be profitable for Ukrainian dairy companies to work with Russia: in 2013 60% of dairy supplies from this country fell on Russia. However in 2014 Russia banned import of Ukrainian dairy products. Russian dairy producers greeted this fact with fervour unless re-export and direct import of cheese analogues from Ukraine started to grow.

In August-October 2015 the ban was partially lifted by Rosselkhoznadzor for a number of Ukrainian companies. They were allowed to export to Crimea. Nevertheless in spite of the supply restraint in 2014 the amount of Ukrainian cheese on Russian grocery shelves stayed unchanged.

Meanwhile Belorussia announced its intention to stop import of cheese analogues from Ukraine. Until quite recently significant volumes of cheese products were supplied to Belorussia under the permitted HS Code 1901.

On top of that free trade zone between Ukraine and EU is likely to cease the reduced trade regime between Ukraine and RF starting from 2016. Ukrainian dairy companies are unlikely to suffer losses; Russian companies had better think about import restrictions relating to Ukrainian cheese analogues earlier, experts say.

dairynews.ru