Milk market in Vinnytsia region: development trends

Abstract

Background. Ukraine’s transition to a market economy, accession to the WTO, the European integration put the issue of food quality and its compliance with international standards requirements. The dairy industry is traditional not only for Vinnytsia region but also for many regions of Ukraine.
The purpose of the article is analysis of milk as raw material in the Vinnytsia region, assessment of problems of the dairy industry and identification of the directions of economy restructuring.
Material and methods. The object of study is the structure of production of raw milk by types of economic activity; quality and safety of products.
Results. Vinnytsia region among the regions of Ukraine takes the first place in terms of production of both raw milk and dairy products [8–11].
80 % of the milk is produced by household farms, which largely corresponds to the second grade in quality. Such products are not suitable for production of all types of dairy products. It is established that delivery of raw milk to the processing enterprises with total bacterial seed within 100 thousands CFU/cm3 (grade "extra") requires that the amount of bacteria in raw milk do not exceed 20–25 thousands CFU/cm3. Because of low sanitary production culture and technology many farms of Vinnytsia region have no appropriate changes to ensure the quality and safety of raw milk.
Of the total volume of milk as raw material taken for processing in 2014 in Vinnytsia region, only 5.6 % was grade "extra" and 32.9 % – higher one, that suits the average quality of EU standards, and rest (almost 62 %) is considered unsuitable for processing. Because of this none of dairy enterprises can be certified by international Commission in terms of exports of their products.
Production of environmentally friendly food products should be a valuable factor in the competitiveness of the agricultural and food enterprises. Another problem that leads to poor quality of dairy products in Ukraine is shortage of milk as raw material. We consider it should be appropriate to make such changes: introduction of state support for producers of dairy raw materials with the aim of increasing quality of raw materials for dairy enterprises; development of measures to improve the quality of milk as raw material from households; introduction of highly productive breeds of cattle in dairy stockbreeding, modern technologies in the production of milk and its processing, the latest achievements of world science and technology; co-operatives of small producers of raw milk.
Conclusion. Production of milk as raw material can be transformed into profitable and competitive aspect of agribusiness, however, this process requires investment costs. It is also advisable to develop own standards for enterprises based on European recommendations and technical regulations.
It is urgent to implement a program of action for the use of resources from regional development to ensure quality and safety processing of raw milk, which will help to intensify the technological process and contribute to solving the problems of resource and ensure efficiency of the dairy enterprises.