Resumen de Evaluation of competitiveness of top-grades of ultrapasterized milk in the conditions of Covid-19
The UHT milk market in the Russian Federation is actively developing and belongs to a promis-ing direction of food industry. The UHT milk is a milk product that has undergone a process of heat treatment in which the milk is heated to a temperature of 137 0 C, and kept at that tempera-ture for 4 seconds before being cooled to room temperature. UHT milk retains almost all the ben-eficial properties of the original product, while it belongs to long-term storage goods and does not require the use of refrigeration equipment. The importance of the product has sharply in-creased during the quarantine imposed by the authorities during the COVID-19 pandemic. At the same time, there is a significant number of UHT milk brands on the consumer market, which leads to quite serious competition and necessitates studying the level of their competitiveness, especially for solving applied issues in the local geographic segment of the market. According to the author, today there is definitely a lack of comprehensive scientific methodological approaches to assessing the competitiveness and quality of UHT milk sold on the local market. Therefore, the purpose of the research was to assess the competitiveness and quality of UHT milk of various brands, presented on the market of Troitsk, Chelyabinsk region. The study assumes a complex methodology, which includes the following stages: 1) identification of the competitiveness of UHT milk by the index method of the ratio of prices and quality of the milk samples under study; 2) conducting a comprehensive assessment of the competitiveness of UHT milk brands presented in the local market, based on the primary marketing research of consumer preferences in this segment of the dairy market; 3) identification of the level of competitiveness of milk trade marks on the basis of the economic method, which assumes their ranking by trade volume. On the basis of the obtained data, it is concluded that the most competitive are the samples of trade marks «Dairy River» and «Dairy Farmer».
