Producers were faced with a choice: to look for new markets or to remain without sales. Butter is not just a product. It is a symbol that shapes the dairy industry of Ukraine. In 2025, it became the engine of growth in purchase prices for milk due to active and profitable exports. But the end result? An imperceptible theft: an increase in the price of all dairy products on the domestic market, which should not be forgotten.
But at the end of the year, the doors are closing. Purchase prices for raw materials are falling. World prices are sliding into the abyss. Oil production has become unprofitable: weak external demand is turning into a disaster. And yet, producers, surrounded on all sides, have still managed to stay afloat. High export prices for most of the year have allowed them not to go to the bottom. The average profit is like an oasis in the desert, exceeding the indicators of previous years.
But, as always, there is a flip side to the coin. The EU customs bag is no longer generous, everything is controlled by quotas and licensing. Exports to the EU have effectively stopped. Producers, pushed into a corner, are forced to scramble among other neighbors.
But competition from countries like Belarus is putting pressure on prices. The pressure is not turning into progress, but rather into a dead end. We, Ukrainian producers, are faced with a challenge: to look for new sales channels, there are enough markets, and Africa and Asia are waiting for their chance.
And here, inside the country, things are getting even worse. Oil is cheaper than for export to post-Soviet countries. Producers, stumbling over their own success, are mired in trouble. Unsold stocks are making it hard to breathe. Domestic demand? It has fallen like a celestial body. Production is on the verge - some factories are closing, others are simply pausing.
Our reality, not an illusion of comfort.
Original source: https://zaxid.net/
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