COMPARISON OF SLOVAK DAIRY PRODUCTS WITH AND WITHOUT ADDED VALUE SOLD BY COMMERCIAL CHAINS

Abstract

The share of products with higher added value is constantly decreasing in Slovakia's agri-food exports and the share of basic agricultural raw materials with low added value is increasing. Commercial retail chains sell especially products without added value. On the other side, products that have undergone a processing are imported from abroad. According to the latest survey of the Slovak Food Chamber of Agriculture in 2016, the share of Slovak products on retailers and retail chains is only 39.91%, with 38.9% in 2015 and 2014.with increase of only 1%. Most of the agri-food products produced in Slovakia are at most represented in commodities: eggs, milk, honey and at least in the following categories: processed vegetables, packaged meat and processed fruit. The main objective of presented paper is to show, that Slovak farmers rather sell raw milk instead of selling added value processed products. A big difference can be found between milk and dairy products, where up to 20% is the difference in the representation of these products in the commercial chains. This fact means, that the Slovak farmers produce enough milk, but it is convenient for them to sell milk as a raw material instead of processing it in their own direction and selling the processed products. Raw milk is exported abroad and then comes back to the Slovak market with an added value as processed product. The survey, which was carried out on all trade chains, showed that the share of Slovak milk in the chain is 63%. An important finding is also the presence of individual dairy products that are produced in Slovakia. The result of the survey showed that the largest share of Slovak dairy products in the domestic market is 51% cottage cheese and sweet / sour cream 55% lowest ripening cheese 40% and processed cheese and cheese spread 43%.

Keywords: milk, dairy products, commercial chains, added value, raw material

Article DOI: http://doi.org/10.15544/RD.2017.132