This was stated by the Association of Milk Producers. According to preliminary data from the State Statistics Committee, in March 2026, farms of all categories produced 496.2 thousand tons of raw milk, which is 59.7 thousand tons less (-10.7%) compared to the indicator for March 2025. Last month, the share of Ukrainian enterprises in raw milk production was 58%, while the share of households – 42%.
In total, in January-March 2026, Ukraine produced 1.31 million tons of milk, which is 144.3 thousand tons less (-10%) compared to the first quarter of 2025 and 236.8 thousand tons less (-15%) compared to the data for the fourth quarter of 2025.
Challenges of European integration
Given the current European integration course, another challenge for the Ukrainian dairy sector is changes in the EU Common Agricultural Policy, analysts say. In the new budget for 2028-2034, the Europeans propose to change the approach to disbursements. In particular, it is supposed to abandon payments per hectare or per cow. These subsidies will presumably be replaced by payments for specific KPIs fulfilled by farmers in the areas of soil protection, biodiversity and other environmental requirements.
Experts emphasize that the new architecture of the Common Agricultural Policy requires milk producers in Ukraine to incur substantial costs to carry out modernization and comply with environmental and phytosanitary requirements of the EU.
“Under the conditions of martial law, prolonged crisis in the dairy market and prices for milk and raw milk below the cost of production, farmers are in dire need of state support and subsidies to fulfill the changes associated with European integration. Already now 10-15% of small and medium-sized dairy farms are under the threat of closure,” analysts say.
