Improving the competitiveness of dairy products of Ukrainian producers in accordance with European standards

These scientists point out that the market situation in Ukraine is favorable for the dairy industry functioning and the country has the appropriate prerequisites for its development: favorable climate, large areas of agricultural land, soil fertility, historical experience in farming, qualified staff and significant dairy market capacity. However, the authors reveal the presence of significant problems in the development of Ukrainian dairy subcomplex enterprises which requires further research in the industry development in the current conditions. The aim of the paper is to analyze and assess the main factors of raw milk competitiveness in accordance with the European quality requirements on the dairy complex of Ukraine, as well as analyze the problems of its development and ways to solve them. Currently, dairy enterprises production in Ukraine meet the high quality standards of the EU only partially. Therefore, the main task for Ukrainian producers is to ensure the high quality of both raw milk and the processed products. In addition, antibiotics and palm oil, pesticides, plant substitutes, milk substitution with water, etc. must be excluded from dairy products. According to the statistics, the total consumption fund in Ukraine, including exports and imports, is 9.33 million tons of milk. If we divide this figure by 42 million people of Ukraine, we get 221 kg of milk per capita. But if we divide the real figures - 6.68 million tons - by the real figure for the Ukrainian population - 36 million people - we will see that the consumption level is much lower - 185 kg per capita. Milk production decreased by almost 3.6% in Ukraine during the year. This drop was the most noticeable in cream and butter production, so it is not surprising that this niche was quickly filled by the importers. But what impedes Ukrainian milk industry development in the domestic market and its entering the foreign market? The only reason is low level of milk production. In Ukraine, the volumes in 2019 fell below 10 million tons for the first time. These data are confirmed by the recently published "Forecast of milk production in Ukraine by 2030: methods and calculations" submitted by Olha Kozak, a researcher at the Department of Economics of Agricultural Production and International Integration of the National Research Center "Institute of Agrarian Economics". According to the expert, the internal shortage of the product in 2019 was indicated primarily by the growth of the purchase p