Ukraine plans to raise export of brand products to 30 mln tonnes

MOSCOW. Jan 23 (Interfax) - Ukraine's objective is to gradually shift from the export of agricultural raw materials to their processing and to bring the export of brand products to 30 million tonnes, deputy head of the Ukrainian president's Office Rostislav Shurma said.

"It is very realistic and pragmatic: we want to sell 30 million tonnes of brand products," Ukrainian media quoted Shurma as saying at a Ukraine House event in Davos.

According to Horizon Capital senior executive director Yelena Kosharnaya, Ukraine's agricultural exports stood at a record high of 86 million tonnes in 2021.

The structure of retail sales has undergone fundamental changes over the past two decades: private label products account for up to 80% of sales at major supermarket chains today, Shurma said.

"We may become a large supplier of private label products to major chains. For us, it is a business amounting to many million tonnes," he said.

The country may have about a dozen national brands which will have higher profit margins, but staples will be sold under the brands of major international chains, Shurma said. They have lower profit margins, but they are still higher than today's profit margins of agricultural exports, he said.

Three conditions need to be met in order to put these plans into practice: the availability of regular access to the European market, access to European supermarket chains and capital investment, he said.

"If we accomplish these three things, we will have a chance to become a supplier of many million tonnes of food products," Shurma said.