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The imbalance of demand and supply of rye on the domestic market led to fluctuations of bread prices.
Ukraine's Association of Bakery Enterprises Ukrhlibprom has reported the lack of rye for bread production in 2019, which has pushed prices of certain types of bakery products by 7-8% up since the beginning of the year.
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"The imbalance of demand and supply of rye on the domestic market led to price fluctuations for certain types of bakery products. The price of rye flour has more than doubled since the beginning of this year (from UAH 5,450/US$213 to UAH 11,000/$430 per tonne)," the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine (AMCU) quoted Ukrhlibprom CEO Oleksandr Vasylchenko as saying on July 5.
The CEO noted that prices of rye and wheat-rye bread went up by 7-8% on the average in the five months of 2019.
At the same time, Ukraine has now enough modern facilities for the production of durum wheat products, namely pasta. However, the absence of relevant crops in Ukraine hinders the development of competition for local value-added produce.
Vasylchenko also added that bread producers and retail chains have not regulated the procedure to handle products after the expiration date. In particular, this refers to the lack of financial responsibility of retailers when they return unsold bakery products.
Ukrhlibprom's CEO also noted the Ukrainian bakery market sees a high level of competition. "The share of supply from the largest business entities in the domestic market does not exceed 40%, while the production capacity of the bakery industry is not used in full," the press service added.
Other key problems in the bread and bakery markets include the fact that the Ukrainian agricultural sector is export-oriented in its shipments of raw materials and that there are insufficient supplies of rye food for national producers of bread and bakery food in the current year.