“Rumors about the imminent shortage of sour cream and cheese are exaggerated”

The Dairy Union assured that there will be enough whey for fermented milk products for all factories

Recently, the media have been frightening Russians with a sharp drop in the production of milk and sour cream due to an acute shortage of sourdough. As it turned out, the fears are unfounded. “Rumors about a possible shortage of sour cream and cheese in stores are greatly exaggerated,” Lyudmila Manitskaya, head of the Russian Dairy Union, told MK at the annual congress held as part of the Prodexpo 2023 exhibition in Moscow.

As Manitskaya explained, in Soviet times, two factories, in Barnaul and Uglich, fully met the needs of dairies in “live” sourdough. After the collapse of the USSR, production volumes fell sharply due to the narrowing of the sales market. In addition, importers, taking advantage of the opportunity, have sharply increased supplies of cheaper powder starter. And even if they leave the Russian market, we will have enough stocks of starter for the production of cheese and sour cream.

As MK found out on the sidelines of the forum, the panic was inflated in his own interests by one big businessman who wished to build a new plant for the production of starter cultures with the help of state support. So you can relax, your favorite varieties of sour cream and cheese will not go anywhere from store shelves.

Far more milk producers and processors are concerned about other threats. So, last year the dairy industry was in a fever due to problems with packaging. Some manufacturers were forced to switch to bottling PET bottles. True, most then returned to the usual container.

According to Manitskaya, over the past 2 years, the farms managed to stabilize the gross milk production. In 2020, the Russian Federation produced 32.2 million tons, in 2021 – 32.3 million tons, in 2022 – about 32.5 million tons. investment attractiveness, the total and milking stock is constantly declining. The decrease in livestock is partially offset by an increase in milk yield. If in 2019 each cow gave an average of 6.3 thousand kg per year, then in 2021 – already 7 thousand kg.

Last year, the production of yoghurts declined the most (see table). Of the export goods, ice cream producers have been hit the hardest by the sanctions. Most notably, the supply of this delicacy fell in the United States.

Participants of the dairy market are also concerned about the desertification of agricultural land and the mass exodus of villagers to the cities. “At the beginning of the 20th century, 87% of the population of Russia lived in rural areas. Now only 26% of the country’s inhabitants remain in the villages. Due to low wages and poor investment climate, the villagers are removed from their homes. Over the past 20 years, 23,000 villages have disappeared. This means that three villages die every day,” Manitskaya said. In her words, nations without land will come to lands without a people. They will not come to work for us, they will come instead of us to work and live.

Another acute problem of the industry is the technological lag. “In the Russian dairy industry, the share of imported equipment and technologies is 80-90%,” said Petr Chekmarev, Chairman of the Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry Committee for the Development of the Agroindustrial Complex. In his opinion, in addition to subsidies for the modernization of dairy plants and farms, new measures are required to support domestic producers.

Sergei Lisovsky, a member of the State Duma Committee on Agrarian Issues, suggested that the government, colleagues from the State Duma and the Federation Council work out the issue of a permanent subsidy for livestock feed. This measure should, in his opinion, help to reduce prices for dairy products. Now, due to the high cost of feed, many livestock breeders are forced to reduce the number of livestock.

As Lyudmila Manitskaya emphasized, due to new large-scale challenges, Russian dairy producers switched to a special mode of operation in order to provide citizens with quality products.