Ukraine: Joint Market Monitoring Initiative (JMMI), 10 - 20 January 2024

INTRODUCTION

Since 24 February 2022, the full-scale war across Ukraine has prompted mass displacement and humanitarian crisis. Given the prominence of multi-purpose cash as a modality for assistance, market monitoring is a key initiative to ensure humanitarian intervention is effective, sustainable and does not harm local markets.

Due to the ongoing full-scale war in Ukraine, humanitarian market data is limited and incomplete, especially from conflict-affected areas. The Joint Market Monitoring Initiative (JMMI) seeks to fill this information gap by providing useful and timely data on price trends and market functionality indicators.

Marketplaces across Ukraine are assessed on a monthly basis. In each location, field teams record prices and other market indicators through retailer and customer key informants (KIs) interviews that characterize monthly changes in the local markets.

The goal of the JMMI is to: track prices and availability of basic commodities in Ukraine markets on a monthly basis; assess the impact of the current humanitarian crisis on market systems in Ukraine; contribute to a broader understanding of the market environment in Ukraine for the benefit of humanitarian actors across all sectors.

KEY FINDINGS

• At the start of the year, there was a rise in the proportion of customer KIs reporting difficulties in accessing shops, primarily attributed to security-related issues. Furthermore, there was an increase in the proportion of retailer KIs facing challenges in keeping their shops operational, primarily due to increased prices from suppliers and staffing issues.
  The difficulties predominantly impacted both customer and retailer KIs in the areas closer to the frontline.

• The issue of affordability remained crucial nationwide, with 59% of customer KIs reporting increased prices as their primary barrier to accessing goods in markets. The inability to afford items available in the stores was most frequently reported in the North (31%). Simultaneously, the North recorded the highest cost for the JMMI basket, reaching 1213 UAH (10% higher than the JMMI basket calculated nationally).

• Access to essential items such as food and hygiene items posed no significant issues, as nearly all customer KIs reported their full availability. However, medications and warm clothes were less accessible, with the most notable availability challenges observed closer to the frontline, particularly in Zaporizka oblast, where 45% of customer KIs reported their unavailability.

• Customers in the South, particularly from Khersonska and Zaporizka oblasts, reported challenges in accessing financial services, primarily attributed to the inaccessibility of functioning bank branches, a scarcity of ATMs, or longterm interruptions in service provision.