Without salt and buckwheat. What else will be lost in stores

Russia’s entire war against Ukraine has ruined 30 to 50 percent of Ukraine’s economy.

In Ukraine, salt has disappeared from the shelves. The deficit formed after learning that in April the state-owned business Artemsol stopped production and cut off the entire supply of salt. It is also difficult to find buckwheat in stores, its prices have risen significantly. Experts say other products will soon disappear. Athletistic telling details.

Why does salt disappear and when will it return?

The hype for salt – a product of basic necessities – appeared in Ukraine two weeks ago, when they officially announced the termination of the work of the state business Artemsol, located in the city of Soledar, Donetsk region. The reason for the plant closure was the fight, which was close to business capacity.

According to representatives of the largest salt producer in Europe, some of the employees left, and the export of salt produced by rail became impossible due to the ongoing shelling. Extraction itself became impossible – Russian shells fell into mines and warehouses.

In 2021, Artyomsol will mine, process and ship nearly two million tons of salt to consumers. About 1.5 million tons of them went to the Ukrainian market. All mined, processed and placed in the warehouse of finished products before April are brought to retail chains. Since then, Artemsol has been mothballed and idle.

The company Soledar provided Ukraine’s needs for edible salt by 92 percent. There is also salt mining at Solotvino and Drohobych, but production there is very unprofitable.

However, experts say that rush demand does not reflect the real needs of consumers – it is due to artificial demand that salt is disappearing from the shelves, and retail chains have large stocks and established import supply.

In the Ministry of Economy, the situation with a shortage of salt in stores is called “classic panic” by consumers.

“After the announcement that Artyomsol stopped, demand increased 30 times. But consumption did not grow 30 times. Accordingly, this salt is living in people’s homes. We see that networks are being built. again, “said Deputy Economy Minister Taras Kachka and added that now there is a rush dropping.

After a week of hype about salt, even the National Security and Defense Council took up the topic. The Center for Counteracting Disinformation noted that salt problems are primarily experienced by ordinary consumers, and businesses that use salt in making, for example, canned foods or sausages, “in addition to their own stocks. of salt in warehouses, concluded additional agreements. on the supply of salt from abroad. “

The first batches of Polish salt, according to large retail chains, have already arrived in Ukraine. Romanian and Turkish products should arrive in June. But, of course, its price is higher than Artemsoli’s products when it comes to costing – both the scarcity and the more expensive and more complex delivery will affect.

Agricultural market observer Larisa Guk said the issue was definitely the price, and not the availability of salt.

“Prices for it (imported salt-ed.) Are approximately 20 hryvnias. This, of course, is not 9-10 hryvnias, as for a standard pre-war one and a half kilogram package of Artemsoli, but also not 95 hryvnias, in some places they seek salt at the peak of the salt boom “, – quoted the expert BBC Ukraine.

The expert says that import supplies should be enough for the summer conservation season, even now-in anticipation of a difficult military winter.

“This moment of anticipation of a difficult winter plays a role. Everyone understands that it will be difficult, and salt will be needed for everyone-not only for preservation, but also for preservation. harvesting fish or meat, ”Guk predicts the further development of events. .

Experts also suggest that salt shortages will not be the last thing Ukrainians will face in the near future.

What other products will disappear from the shelves

Hooke suggests that the next shortage is tomatoes. “Because we have a bulk of tomatoes – it’s Kherson tomatoes. Please note that almost no tomato paste, ketchups in stores,” the expert notes and higher prices for them.

Although tomatoes are grown everywhere in Ukraine, it is the Kherson ones that are known even beyond its borders. And it is the Kherson region that accounts for most of the industrial processing of Ukrainian tomatoes: there are large enterprises that process agricultural raw materials into pasta, ketchup and conservation.

Oksana Sorzhulenko, a representative of one of the largest grocery supermarket chains, also speaks about the lack of seasonal vegetables on the air of a national telethon. It is also onions, carrots, beets. Most of them grew up in the Kherson and Zaporozhye regions, some of which were under Russian occupation and fighting continues.

Along with the salt, buckwheat began to disappear from the shelves again. “Traditionally, the demand for salt leads to increasing demand for buckwheat. These products, along with flour, are included in the category of the so -called” hype syndrome, “a representative of one of the largest supermarket chains in Ukraine quotes LIGA.net.

The shortage will last until the beginning of the new harvest, which is the end of August – beginning of September, say growers and retailers.

“Ukraine currently does not import buckwheat. Therefore, there will be a shortage before the harvest begins,” said Volodymyr Ruban, head of foreign economic activity at Terra, a company that produces grain products.

The Ukrainian Club of Agrarian Business says that the shortage of buckwheat on store shelves was affected by increased demand before the war, against the background of statements about its imminent start, and after the start – in a month, the Ukrainians buy volumes 3 -4 months.

Buckwheat is not in demand in the world, except in the countries of the former Soviet camp, so there is no place for someone to import it. However, experts say that Ukraine can cope with domestic demand on its own.

According to the Ministry of Agrarian Policy, as of May 26, 57.7 thousand hectares of buckwheat, or 70 percent of the sown area last year, had already been sown. In addition, the sowing campaign is still ongoing.

Prices are likely to drop on new crops, Ruban predicts. “Manufacturers and traders will come to the market and create competition, which will make it possible to reduce the market price for several months,” the expert notes.

Problems may arise with vinegar, the raw material of which is produced by the Severodonetsk Azot Association. The business stopped working due to fighting in the early days of a Russian invasion.

Then they stopped all the major stores, stopped production. The remnants of finished products and chemicals were taken out of the business territory outside the Lugansk region.

Since then, the head of the military administration of the Lugansk region, Sergei Gaidai, has repeatedly reported on the shelling of Azot by the Russian occupiers and even called the plant “almost destroyed.” Today, almost 80 percent of Severodonetsk is under the control of occupiers.

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