AGROINFLATION AND CONSUMER PRICE INDEX FOR FOODSTUFFS: UKRAINE-EU COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS

Abstract

One of the fundamental conditions for food security is a sufficient level of economic access to food; so, finding the reasons for rising consumer food prices is an urgent research problem. In view of this, the purpose of the article is to determine the extent and causes of the impact of agricultural price index on consumer price index for foodstuffs on the basis of comparison of the phenomena studied in Ukraine and the EU. The following conclusions are drawn: (i) some Ukrainian households are in a state of food hazards due to excessive expenses for buying food; one of the main reasons for this is the constant rise in food prices; (ii) over the past 20 years in Ukraine, prices for foodstuffs rose 11.8 times, agricultural products – 23.5 times; in the EU they increased by 45% and 32%, respectively; (iii) the main source of inflationary impulses in Ukraine’s food market is agroinflation in the livestock sector of agriculture; (iv) sectoral structure of agricultural production is noticeably distorted in Ukraine: the share of livestock industries accounts for only 31.5%, which is by 12.3 pp less than that in the EU. This is the main reason for the shortage of food products of livestock production; (v) per capita production of all types of meat is by 40% higher in the EU than in Ukraine; that of milk – by 21.5% higher; (vi) in the EU (unlike Ukraine), production and consumption of foodstuffs, in particular of animal origin, are of a relatively high level of stability; (vii) export-import operations in Ukraine with food of animal origin are aimed at providing the narrow corporate interests irrespective of national ones; (viii) in Ukraine, unlike the EU, more than 99% of livestock business entities are small organizational forms that hold less than 5 heads of livestock. Such farms have relatively higher production costs; (ix) the reason for agroinflation and growth of consumer price index for foodstuffs in Ukraine is the lack of compensators of production costs in the form of budget subsidies.