Milk production in Ukraine is 1.8% less in the first half of the year than in the same period last year

The continuing decline in the production of milk by households isn't surprising any more, but the slowdown in the growth of agricultural production is a little alarming. According to the results of the first half of the year, the agricultural enterprises did not go into negative territory, but if in five months the increase compared to the previous year was + 3.6%, then over six months it was only + 1.7%. That is, either the State Statistics Service cardinally "recounted" the semi-annual figures, or the milk production by this category has noticeably decreased: -4% by May and -4% by June of last year.

At the same time, it should be noted that the number of cows in agricultural enterprises practically did not decrease over the previous year, the reduction was only -0.2%. Then, it turns out that the milk yield has strongly been affected by the weather: pressure drops and frequent changes in temperature.

As a result, according to the State Statistics Service, milk production in Ukraine in the first half of the year was 4.96 million tons, which is 1.8% lower than the same period last year. The population produced 3.5 million tons (71% of the total), which is 3.2% less than in the first half of last year. During the same period, agricultural producers added + 1.4%, which is 1.4 million tons.

The livestock continues to decline (-3.5%), but the situation is completely different depending on the producer category. If in recent years the dynamics of decline in agricultural enterprises and households has been approximately equal, then on July 1, agricultural producers "lost" only 0.2% livestock, while the number of livestock in the households fell by 4.4%. The number of cows in Ukraine in mid-2018 amounted to 2,035.4 thousand heads.