Research of development trends of the Ukrainian dairy market and directions of cheese producers' intensification of marketing activities on IT

Abstract

Analysis of the secondary marketing information proves that the dairy sector is the leading in the Ukrainian food and processing industry. It not only affects the well-being and health of the population, but also the food security of the country. At the same time, the Ukrainian dairy market operates in conditions of intense competition. As a result of the military action the number of milk processing enterprises in Ukraine decreased at the end of 2022, at the same time, a decrease in the production of several dairy products in natural terms is observed while their prices are increasing. During the 2019-2021, the amount of export of dairy products also decreased in natural terms, but the amount of import increased significantly. Ukrainian dairy products are in demand on the world market primarily due to the lower price of products which caused by the usage of the cheaper raw materials (milk) for their production bought from domestic milk processing enterprises. It has been established that consumer organizations, primarily retail chains, can significantly influence the activity of milk processing enterprises, increasing the amount of trade mark-up and retail prices for dairy products and, accordingly, reducing demand for them. This situation is common for hard and processed cheeses. In the milk processing industry of Ukraine, the production of cheese accounts for about 10% of the production volume of dairy products. Producers will be able to increase the demand for hard cheeses by detailed studying of the consumer preferences and satisfying them. According to the results of the collected and analyzed primary marketing information, it is recommended that domestic producers of hard cheeses should expand the assortment of hard cheeses with original flavors, increase the number of new packaged products weighing up to 200 g, and for types that are in significant demand - 200-500 g – optimize the price of certain types of goods and monitor the prices of hard cheeses in trade networks, intensify the marketing communication policy by placing banner ads and advertising at the point of sale with an emphasis on original tastes, high quality and domestic production of hard cheeses.