According to representatives of domestic slaughterhouses and meat processing plants, operators face three key problems:
— lack of working capital due to the worsening situation with the repayment of accounts receivable (mainly when working with national retail chains) and lack of access to the usual credit instruments;
— difficulties with procurement of raw materials. For example, on the background of the limited domestic supply of pork, the competition for the purchase of slaughtered animals has increased significantly, and the high logistics costs require reducing its radius;
— currency exchange rate revisions have led to higher prices for imported «consumables» (packaging, spices, etc.) not only for operators of deep meat processing, but also for slaughterhouses that need to modernize/re-equip or replace elements of individual production lines.
In addition, the key factor of uncertainty for representatives of the meat processing industry is the reaction of the end consumer to changes in retail prices for meat and meat products, which will gradually integrate cost increases at all links of the value-added chain. Processors fear a reorientation to cheaper products and a further decline in consumer activity both in the chilled meat segment and in the sausage and other meat products segment due to the weakened solvency of the population. At present, estimates of the current progress of sales and, accordingly, the actual workload of slaughtering facilities vary significantly depending on the region, the size of the enterprise and its markets. Thus, if powerful market players and smaller operators in population centers work relatively steadily, a number of smaller operators in less densely populated areas of the Center and South note the weakening of sales and go to work «to order».
The Association of Ukranian Pig Breeders is a nonprofit, voluntary organization founded by domestic pork producers. The main objectives of the association are representation and protection of the rights and interests of the association farms, assistance in the development and introduction of new technologies for the efficient production of pork, expansion of markets, protection of domestic sales market.