Share of fake coffee on Ukrainian market reaches 30% - parliamentarian

MOSCOW. July 7 (Interfax) - The share of counterfeit coffee on the Ukrainian market reaches 30%, and retail vendors and online retailers regularly sell fake instant coffee imitating global brands, while those products in fact have nothing to do either with those brands or with coffee as such, Daniil Getmantsev, head of the Ukrainian Verkhovna Rada Financial, Tax, and Customs Policy Committee, said following a meeting with producers.

"The counterfeiting and falsification of global and Ukrainian brands is flourishing, and retail vendors and online retailers sell something that can't be called coffee and that's made of maltodextrin under the guise of brands," Ukrainian media quoted Getmantsev's social media post.

Counterfeiters routinely add maltodextrin to coffee, Hetmantsev said.

"The situation on the market is simultaneously horrible and typical for our country. The shady market share reaches 30%. Granulated coffee is imported at a declared customs value that is lower than that of green coffee beans," Getmantsev said.

There are several business families in Ukraine that cover up this business, he said.

"All the business community is asking the state for [...] is fulfilling its duty to ensure the market's legal and transparent work. Both coffee consumers and the state itself are interested in that," Getmantsev said. "Only several families of 'businesspeople' are not interested in that, who have arranged a super-profitable business under foreign brands, without paying taxes, and at the expense of our health," he said.