Conference “Dairy Industry: Ukraine — EU”: Dialogue on the Road to European Integration
On June 3, the conference “Dairy Industry: Ukraine — EU” was held in Kyiv, organised by the Union of Dairy Enterprises of Ukraine and the analytical agency Infagro. The delegates were offered a program that included a discussion of the steps necessary for the European integration of the Ukrainian dairy sector and strengthening the positions of Ukrainian dairy products on the EU market.
Vitaliy Koval, Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine; Oksana Osmachko, Deputy Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine; Oleksandr Haidu, Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Agrarian and Land Policy; Aleksander Anton, Secretary General of the European Dairy Association; and Vadym Chagarovsky, Chairman of the Union of Dairy Enterprises of Ukraine (SMPU) welcomed the participants.
The first session was moderated by Arsen Didur, Executive Director of the Ukrainian Dairy Association, and Elizabeth Svyatkivska, Coordinator of the SMPU Eurointegration Committee.
After the presentation of Leonid Tulush, Head of the SMPU Analytical Department, on the current state of Ukrainian dairy industry, European experts from Prospex International (Mark Gramberger) and CNIEL (Pierre Cormier and Jean-Marc Chomet) and Olga Kornienko(Lactalis), the main discussion turned to the topic of pricing and long-term contracts between milk producers and processors. The position of milk producers was presented by Hanna Lavreniuk, General Director of AVM; the position of processors was presented by Serhiy Vovchenko, Chairman of the Board of the Milk Alliance Group, and Vitaliy Kovalchuk, Head of the Molokija Company.
All participants in the discussion agreed that a productive dialogue is needed to agree on a common approach to determining the price of raw materials, taking into account the industry’s real state, structure, and development prospects in the coming years.
The second session, moderated by Maks Fasteyev, Infagro Project Partner, began with a welcome address by Carolien Spaans, Agricultural Attaché of the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Ukraine. In her address, she noted the importance of developing dairy sector in Ukraine and confirmed her readiness to continue supporting the European integration efforts of Ukrainian dairy.
The analysis of foreign trade, presented by Maks Fasteyev, showed the dynamics of Ukrainian dairy exports since 2021 and the growth of the share of trade with the EU. Regarding the prospects for the development, the focus was made on trade mechanisms — tariffs and quotas, interventions, changes in statistical reporting, and the regulation of unfair trade practices in the supply chains of agricultural and food products.
Experts – Oleksandr Zhemoyda and Kinga Adamashvili, EDA, reviewed the features of EU regulatory documents relating to milk and dairy products. In addition, the importance of harmonising the terminology in the names of dairy products in Ukraine with EU standards was emphasised. Vadym Chagarovsky also spoke about the terms and definitions currently used in Ukrainian regulatory legal acts and the need to adapt the legislative framework of the domestic dairy industry to EU Regulations. Elizabeth Svyatkivska spoke about marketing standards and highlighted the need to harmonise the terminology and labelling rules adopted in Ukraine with European requirements.
Iryna Vysotska, Deputy Local Manager and Coordinator of the Dairy Sector Component of QFTP moderated the third session. She presented a phased plan to achieve the European level of quality of raw milk supplied to dairy processing by 2030. Anatoliy Gamza, Deputy Head of the Department of the State Service for Food Safety and Consumer Protection of Ukraine, continued the topic by presenting the progress of the implementation of the Roadmap for the Implementation of the Raw Milk Control Program in Ukraine, which began in 2019. Vitaliy Bashynsky, an engaged consultant of QFTP, shared his thoughts on animal welfare in Ukrainian livestock farming, which is one of the essential indicators for fulfilling EU requirements on the path to European integration. He emphasised the importance of implementing farm animals welfare requirements in Ukraine and creating an effective system of monitoring compliance with these requirements by market operators.
The complex and multifaceted topic of sustainable development at all the stages of the production chain, the balance of environmental goals and economic stability was discussed by panellists Ivan Khanas, Director of Procurement and Operations of Danone in Ukraine, Hanna Lavreniuk, General Director of AVM, and Artur Pulawski, auditor of BEFES Audit and Advisory.
Hanna Lavreniuk provided a vision of sustainable development at the dairy farm level, emphasising that sustainable development is a combination of three components: economic, social and environmental. Ivan Khanas shared Danone’s achievements and said that sustainability is the foundation of the company’s development.
The discussions held during the conference showed that the Ukrainian dairy sector, even in the challenging conditions in which the country is currently working, is persistently preparing to become part of the EU dairy market. The SMPU Eurointegration Committee is actively cooperating with the government, which is negotiating Ukraine’s accession to the EU, providing proposals that should be taken into account, as they are essential for the sustainable development of the dairy industry. Government representatives highly appreciated the activity of the dairy sector in the negotiation process.
Ukrainian dairy exporters are concerned about the changes in trade with EU countries that are expected after June 5, when the autonomous trade measures expire. There is still no clarity on this issue, but there is hope that clear rules will be established by the end of July.
During the discussions, the importance of the sectoral balance was emphasised, namely, the correspondence of the livestock growth, which has already begun in the industrial sector of milk production, to the possibilities of modern processing and the purchasing power of the consumers in the domestic market. The development of the industry should occur harmoniously, with the coordination of the factors mentioned above, as well as taking into account the structure of milk production in the country and has significant differences compared to the European one.
The organisers of the conference hope that the participants have received the necessary information that will help their enterprises better prepare for work on the common market with the EU.
This event is supported by:
– Switzerland within the framework of the Swiss-Ukrainian Programme “Higher Value Added Trade from the Organic and Dairy Sector in Ukraine” implemented by the Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL, Switzerland) in partnership with SAFOSO AG (Switzerland).
– Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Ukraine.
The source of the press release is available here.
