Head of AgriVolga Bachin: if Europe imposes sanctions on sourdough, there will be no sour cream in Russia

The founder of the agricultural holding “AgriVolga” Sergei Bachin considers Russia dependent on Europe in the supply of milk starter. According to him, 90% of imported products are used in the Russian market. The businessman believes that this is a “strategic level problem.”

“Consumers, probably, do not even fully understand that if Europe suddenly imposes sanctions on dairy starters, then we will not have sour cream in Russia. We will not be able to produce it, because the dependence here is total,” said Mr. Bachin. RBC.

According to the businessman, the production of starter cultures in the Russian Federation failed in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Then the world began to create concentrated starter cultures – they are better in terms of economic efficiency. In the USSR, the technological transition was skipped, and in modern Russia, dairy and cheese factories were built according to Western technologies. Manufacturers will not be able to quickly switch to the form of production that was 30 years ago, because the laboratories must be reopened and people must be trained. AgriVolga plans to launch a biofactory in Uglich in two years – its first stage “will be able to cover 25% of the market’s demand for starters”, and the second stage will increase the share “to about 50%”.

Mr. Bachin is not afraid of sanctions that affect the technical elements of factories and farms. In his opinion, Russian manufacturers will be able to replace them with supplies from Turkey or China. According to him, the packaging problem that the business faced in the spring is almost solved. The entrepreneur believes that the bags “maybe have become a little worse”, but they are still “twice as good as in Finland or Sweden.”

On the risks of the dairy industry in Russia – in the material “Kommersant” “Yoghurts Lose Focus”.

Leonid Uvarchev