Ukrainian dairy products take growing share of Moldovan market
According to the Association of Milk Producers of Ukraine, more than 76,000 tonnes of dairy products were exported from Ukraine to Moldova in 2026, with their total value estimated at more than $218 million.
Moldova has become the largest market for Ukrainian dairy products. In the first seven months of 2026, Ukraineexported 76,050 tonnes of dairy products worth $218.27 million. Moldova accounted for $50.6 million of those exports, followed by Poland with $28.8 million and Germany with $25.5 million. The main categories in Ukrainian dairy exports were ice cream at 28%, condensed milk and cream at 24%, butter at 14%, cheese at 13% and casein at 9%.
‘Ukraine, despite being at war, increased milk production to sell it to our children’
Economic expert Veaceslav Ioniță has repeatedly drawn attention to what he describes as a critical situation in the dairy sector. In June 2026, he said: “When you see that Ukraine, despite being at war, has increased milk production in order to sell it to our children, you realise just how serious the situation is.”
Ioniță also criticised the practice of local producers using imported raw materials while marketing the resulting product as Moldovan.
“We import skimmed milk powder, we separately import fats, add Moldovan water and sell it as Moldovan milk. The only thing left in it that is Moldovan is the water.”
According to Ioniță, imports of milk and dairy products already account for around 60% of the domestic market. He also warned that the sector’s trade deficit is approaching $200 million and that, without restoring milk collection from households and developing domestic processing capacity, dependence on imports will continue to grow.
Two-thirds of raw materials imported
According to the Ministry of Agriculture, around two-thirds of the raw materials used by Moldova’s dairy industry were imported in 2025. Ukraine accounted for more than 66% of raw milk imports.
Farmers say they are ready to work and produce as much as the market requires, but argue that stronger action is needed from the authorities to protect them from cheaper Ukrainian imports.
Ion Popescu, who manages a farm in the Ialoveni district with 550 head of cattle, said: “Our production cost for milk is higher than that of imported milk, but we guarantee quality. We do not know what kind of milk is being imported, so policies are needed to protect local producers.”
Agricultural producers have also criticised the removal of the requirement for retailers to reserve at least 50% of shelf space for domestically produced goods. They say the support measures currently in place are insufficient to protect local production.
Local dairy sector loses ground
According to Ioniță, Moldova now produces less than half of the milk it needs. Without fundamental changes, he warned, the country’s dependence on imports will only deepen.
The figures point to a stark trend: while Ukraine is expanding supplies, Moldova’s own dairy production continues to shrink. The country’s cattle population fell from 400,000 in 1990 to 61,000 in 2025, while milk production in private households continues to decline.
Commercial farms are expanding, but their capacity is still insufficient to meet even half of domestic demand. As Ukrainian dairy products take a larger share of the market, local farmers face increasingly difficult competition from cheaper imports.
The question is how many more Moldovan producers will be able to withstand that pressure before leaving the market altogether and whether anything other than “Moldovan water” will eventually remain in milk sold as locally produced.
