KIEV: Ukraine’s exports of dairy products plunged 56.7 percent year on year to 112 million U.S. dollars in the first eight months of the year due to a dramatic slump in sales to Russia, the government press service said Thursday.
“The drop in exports was mainly caused by almost a complete cessation of supplies to Russia — they slumped by 99.9 percent,” said the statement on the government website.
Ukraine exported 119 million dollars worth of dairy products to Russia from January to August last year, but in the first eight months of this year, the value of the country’s exports to Russia fell to only 69,500 dollars.
The falling export has severely hit Ukraine’s cheese and milk powder industries, whose overseas sales declined by 98 percent and 38 percent in the first eight months, respectively. Russia imposed a ban on imports of a wide range of dairy products from Ukraine in July 2014, citing alleged quality concerns.
