INTERVIEW ▶▶▶ Oksana Yurchenko


How viruses shaped a new reality for Ukraine


Market situations can differ from country to country; this becomes clear when listening to Oksana Yurchenko, president of the Association of Ukrainian Pig Breeders. Where Covid-19 led to supply chain problems in the US, in Ukraine commercial production had a different experience.


BY VLADISLAV VOROTNIKOV, CORRESPONDENT L


ong before African Swine Fever (ASF) crossed the borders of Germany, the virus had already emerged in Ukraine. The country has been facing the virus since 2012 and learned the devastating consequences. In recent years, the coun-


try’s swine sector has been recovering bit by bit – then a new virus showed up: Covid-19. Oksana Yurchenko, president of the Associa- tion of Ukrainian Pig Breeders, maintained a helicopter view and noticed that unlike with ASF, commercial production actually benefited from the later virus.


Pig Progress: How has Covid-19 affected Ukraine’s pig sector? Oksana Yurchenko: “In Ukraine, we have seen two opposite trends in quarantine restrictions related to Covid-19. Backyard farms, whose share in sales is around 42%, have been hit by the closure of their main sales channel – marketplaces. Citizens and small farms that were growing pigs for Easter were unable to sell them. “For the industrial segment, the closure of marketplaces was ben- eficial, as customers switched to buying meat in groceries and butchers. Since the number of sales channels narrowed, demand for pork produced by commercial farms went up. “A positive was that there were no coronavirus outbreaks among employees of farms and meat-processing plants. The supply chain remained undisrupted, so it was able to meet the domestic de- mand. A US scenario did not seem likely in Ukraine, since we don’t have such big companies, neither in pig farming nor in processing. There is no monopoly in the industry. “The feed market was also not affected by quarantine restrictions. There were no disruptions in feedstuff supply, at least not related to the Covid-19 pandemic. Today, in Ukraine, due to changing


legislation, it is impossible to register new products – procedures are still being detailed. “Conditions in the pork market are rather comfortable. Since early summer, prices have been ranging between $ 1.60 and $ 1.70 per kilogramme (live weight) thanks to the barbecue season, a reduc- tion in imports in the first half of the previous year and a seasonal decline in output due to lower gains in hot weather.”


How has the industry been developing the past few years? “The epizootic situation has been the main factor impacting the pig industry, not only for Ukraine. We are talking about ASF. The first outbreak was registered at a backyard farm in 2012. Since 2014, the virus has been registered in the wild and, since 2015, in industrial farms as well. Since the beginning of this year, we have only had 12 ASF outbreaks; nevertheless, industrial farms are still facing high risks. Unlike backyard farms, industrial farms in Ukraine are not being reimbursed in the event of an outbreak and cannot buy insurance for their pig population. “Another negative consequence of the ASF spread is isolation from foreign markets. In the last four years, pork exports have not exceeded 15,000 tonnes. The situation is saved by a shortage of pork on the domestic market; we are not producing as much pork as we consume. And yet, the industry is growing. One day sales will become critical. “It is also worth mentioning that there is an insufficient legislative base. On the one hand, there is an ongoing harmonisation of our legislation with Europe, but to a large extent, old Soviet regula- tions still exist, which were never rewritten or adjusted. Produc- tion technologies are way more advanced now than those used on Soviet collective farms, yet farmers still need to comply with some regulations approved 50 years ago.”


▶PIG PROGRESS | Volume 36, No. 8, 2020 19


PHOTOS: VLADISLAV VOROTNIKOV


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