Moldova overtakes every EU country as Ukraine’s top dairy buyer
Ukraine is selling less dairy abroad and importing more—while Moldova, rather than an EU country, has become its largest foreign customer.
Moldova has become Ukraine's top dairy buyer, surpassing even Poland and Germany in the first seven months of 2026. This surprising turn of events stems from falling European prices, making EU sales less attractive and cheap imports capturing a larger share of Ukraine's domestic market. Ukraine now buys approximately as much dairy as it sells, a rare occurrence for a country historically reliant on exports.
This shift in demand is driven primarily by the decline in European wholesale prices for butter and milk powder, which caused exports to plummet by nearly a fifth in value while imports rose by more than a third. Moldovan President Maia Sandu and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met in Kyiv on April 26, 2026, to discuss the growing trade.
Moldova's increased dairy purchases have led to a significant drop in the share of Ukrainian-produced cheese in the country's market, with imported cheese now accounting for over half of the market, up from under 40 percent at the beginning of 2025.
Written by urgent.news from Euromaidan Press's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
