Ukrainians prefer domestic foods

More than 90% of food products bought by Ukrainians are of domestic origin. In supermarkets only, Ukraine sells food products for 127 billion UAH (16 billion USD). In 2012, this figure was up 21% from 2011 (13.1 billion USD). According to experts, supermarkets sell only 40% of food consumed by Ukrainians. It means that, in practice, Ukrainian food market has a lot of room to develop, the Information-Analytical Bulletin of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine informs.

In order to meet the growing demand for food products, Ukraine is increasing the scope of their production. Thus, according to experts, in the first 9 months of 2013, production of beef, pork, poultry, milk, butter, cheese, and other popular products has grown. 

For the period of January to September 2013, production of meat in Ukraine was up 9.3% year-on-year (up to 2.33 million tons of live weight). During the same period, production of milk was up 0.8%, to 9.01 million tons. Production of eggs was up 3.3%, to 15.19 billion each. 

«Ukraine supplies the domestic food market with internal production. The demand for domestic food products is also growing in the country. Thus, over 90% of food purchased in Ukraine is of domestic production,» Mykola Prisyazhnyuk, Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine, said. 

Due to the increased growth in supplies of agricultural products, exports have risen in 2013. Since beginning of the year, Ukraine has increased exports of finished agricultural products and foodstuffs by 35%. Significant increases were registered in exports of products with high added value, such as poultry, eggs, and flour. For example, supply of flour was nearly doubled; export of poultry went up 2.6 times, export of eggs went up almost by one third. Since beginning of the year, Ukraine has exported agricultural and food products for 8.7 billion USD, which let the agrarians rank second (after metallurgists) by share in Ukrainian exports. 

By promoting growth of agricultural production, the government simultaneously raises the requirements for its quality. The Cabinet recently finalized a new basic bill regulating the safety of food products. The document obligates the manufacturers to utilize HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point) system, a comprehensive analysis of risks and unsafe factors in food production. This system is mandatory in the European Union and in some other countries Canada, Australia, and Japan. Since July 2013, it has also been accepted in Customs Union countries. 

According to government analysts, the HACCP system introduces the principle of traceability at each stage of food production. It means that manufacturers will have to keep strict records of purchased raw materials and buyers of their products. These data will be combined into an integrated database, thus ensuring the fast tracking of low-quality products.