The dairy industry, both farmers and processors, continues to operate at approximately the cost price level.

Drought and high feed pressure prices the profitability of production, so farmers want higher prices for their product — raw milk.

But market relations impose not only supply, but also demand. In September dairies are still trying to protect their raw milk supply zones and maintain the volumes of milk processing before the autumn-winter period comes. Later, October, the time of low sales, the situation may change — the demand for raw milk will fall, while imports, on the contrary, will increase.

Official statistics shows that after the disastrous July, the dynamics of milk production in August improved significantly. This applies only to agricultural enterprises. According to calculations made on the basis of the State Statistics Service data, last month the increase in milk production in agricultural enterprises was up 6% compared to last year, while households, decreased production by 6%.

Since the beginning of the year, Ukraine has produced 6.5 million tons of raw milk, which is 3.8% less than the same period last year.

The cost of milk produced by agricultural enterprises has approached record levels with price range 9.0−10.95 UAH/kg. But at the same time, it is almost impossible to find farm milk which has not been demanded now.

Prices for milk produced by households also increased, and this was expected. Seasonality of production in this category of producers is even more pronounced, plus recently there has been an increase in prices for cheese products and butter — the products which create main demand for such sort of raw milk. Therefore, it is logical that the demand has also increased. In mid-September, the average price range for raw milk produced in households is 5.5−6.0 UAH/kg excluding VAT.

Source - MilkUA.info