export,
cheese,
import
Сheese exports declining, imports growing
Exports of Ukrainian solid / semi-hard cheeses is declining.
Last month, it was exported only 525 tons, which is 21% less than in December 2017.
In general, cheese exports decreased by 11% over the year to 6.5 thousand tons. At the same time, imports of cheese increased by 38% to 9.3 thousand tons. If we consider only the category of hard cheeses, there were 4.7 thousand tons imported, which is still less than exports of this product category.
But this is only for now. Given the current costs of European and Ukrainian cheeses, imports will continue to grow. Why should a distributor buy «Rossiyskiy» cheese at 150 UAH/kg, if German Gouda after customs clearance costs about 130 UAH/kg?
Therefore, when making the pricing policy, Ukrainian cheese makers need to take this into account, otherwise European neighbors can bite off quite a decent share of the market. It is worth remembering that this year the duty on European cheeses is reduced to 3.3−6.6%, and in 2021 the duty on many products will be completely abolished.