XVI All-Ukrainian Conference with International Participation
DAIRY BUSINESS
28 November, 2024
Kyiv, Premier Hotel Rus
Organizers: Infagro, Dairy Union of Ukraine
Speakers:’
PARTICIPANTS
The massive rocket attack that lasted for more than 11 hours on November 28 and the power outage did not prevent the delegates of the DAIRY BUSINESS 2024 conference from gathering and holding their annual event. The delegates were welcomed by Vadym Chagarovsky, Chairman of the Union of Dairy Enterprises of Ukraine, Albert de Groot, president-elect of the European Dairy Association (EDA), and Vitaliy Koval, Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine.
Speaking to the delegates, Vadym Chagarovsky emphasized that the dairy industry remains the most important component of the agricultural sector and, despite the challenging conditions of wartime, is beginning to increase production, especially in the western regions. Albert de Groot spoke about supporting the liberalization of trade in dairy products and the full integration of Ukraine into the free market of the European Union, confirming the EDA’s support for Ukrainian dairy farmers. Vitaliy Koval, in his welcoming speech to the delegates, emphasized the importance of dairy farming in the country’s agricultural sector, the prospects for the development of the industry, and the need to compete with imported products in the domestic market. He thanked the Union of Dairy Enterprises for their active work it carries out in the EU, establishing contacts with colleagues and promoting its companies to the EU market.
Leonid Tulush, Head of the Expert and Analytical Department of the Union of Dairy Enterprises of Ukraine, presented the delegates a comprehensive picture of the state of the dairy industry in Ukraine, identified the problems faced by dairy processing, and proposed possible ways to solve them. Yuriy Voichak, Director of the MSME Sales Department of Oschadbank, spoke about the financial opportunities that Ukrainian dairy farmers and processors can take advantage of now.
The discussion of the topic that has been of concern to milk processors for at least ten years – relationship with retail chains – was held by representatives of all links in the dairy supply chain. The participants represented raw milk producers (Olena Zhupinas, Deputy Director of the AVM, Ion Moraru, Head of the “Development of Dairy Farming Development” Project of the SMPU), processors (Serhii Vovchenko, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the Dairy Alliance Group) and trade (Nataliya Petrivska, Executive Director of the Ukrainian Food Retail Alliance). The state bodies with which the processors have been negotiating for a long time on the legislative regulation of the problem of delaying payments for delivered goods and regulating relations with the trade market, in general, were represented by Hanna Lichman, People’s Deputy of Ukraine, the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Economic Development, and Taras Vysotsky, First Deputy Minister of Agricultural Policy and Food of Ukraine.
The discussion was moderated by Arsen Didur, Executive Director of the SMPU. During the speeches, representatives of each supply chain shared the problems they have to solve and expressed their understanding that the issue of the relationship between the participants of the chain “producers – processors – trade” must be resolved, guided by already established European practices. Hanna Lichman invited processing representatives to the working group dealing with this issue.
After the tasting of KOMO and the Cheese Club cheeses, which the company offered for the participants of the event, a panel began, where the conference participants were introduced to the current state and prospects for the European integration of the dairy industry. The discussion was moderated by Maksym Fasteyev, INFAGRO project partner and advisor to the European Integration Committee of the Union of Dairy Enterprises of Ukraine. European colleagues shared their vision of the European integration of the Ukrainian dairy industry – Jukka Likitalo, Secretary General of EUCOLAIT, Carolien Spaans, Agricultural Counselor of the Embassy of the Netherlands in Ukraine, and Jerzy Plewa, an expert from Team Europe Direct, who, as an example, cited the paths taken by Poland and other countries when joining the EU. Elisabeth Sviatkivska, Coordinator of the European Integration Committee of the Union of Dairy Enterprises of Ukraine, and Vasyl Antonenko, Head of the Expert Group in the Field of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures of the Government Office for Coordination of European and Euro-Atlantic Integration of the Secretariat of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, spoke about how the Ukrainian dairy industry plans to approach European industry requirements.
During the discussion, the main idea was that changes need to be planned, specified, and implemented quickly because the integration of the industry into the EU means that we will soon have to play by European rules. About 60 Ukrainian dairy enterprises are already certified to sell their products to the EU and are successfully promoting their products on the European market, but there is still a lot of work to be done, especially in terms of animal welfare requirements and some others.
Continuing the topic of European integration and the need to modernize production, Michal Jirdásek, Key Account Manager of MEGA, a company well-known to Ukrainian milk processors, presented the company’s opportunities that Ukrainian processors can take advantage of by implementing the latest technologies.
The panel dedicated to the topic of trade in dairy products on the domestic and foreign markets, was moderated by Iryna Vysotska, coordinator of the QFTP Dairy Sector component.
The discussion began with the changes that have occurred in the domestic market. Kyrylo Yezhov, New Business Director at KANTAR Ukraine, shared data from a study of changes in Ukrainian consumer behaviour during the years of the full-scale war and provided valuable information on the consumers’ current preferences. Daryna Reznikova,Head of Fresh Ultra Fresh Metro Cash and Carry Ukraine, expanded the picture by talking about the company’s plans to reduce dependence on promotions and the methods the company uses to maintain customer loyalty.
The discussion of the state of foreign trade began with a presentation by Julie Collard, Economics and Trade Manager at Eucolait, who presented data on different regions of the world, the features of the implementation of international trade agreements, and the dependence of export trade on politics. Continuing this topic, Vasyl Vintonyak, Director of INFAGRO, reviewed Ukraine’s dairy exports in recent years, demonstrating the changes that occurred in the first year of the full-scale invasion, including the introduction of autonomous trade measures by the European Union. Iryna Vikhtyuk, Export Director of MK “Voloshkove Pole”, and Yuriy Shabliyenko, Deputy Director for Development of Foreign Markets of GC “Continium”, shared their practical experience of exporting to the EU.
Yuriy Shevchuk, Vice President of Olam Food Ingredients, and Oleksiy Hrushetsky, Deputy Director for Export Promotion of the Office for Development of Entrepreneurship and Export, spoke about the prospects and opportunities for expanding exports.
The conference once again demonstrated the unity of those who keep operating and develop the dairy industry of Ukraine and, even in difficult wartime, continue to produce dairy products for the Ukrainian consumer, help our Armed Forces, enter the new export markets and prepare to become part of the free EU market.
