August 30, 2018

Russia targets 1.7% increase in milk production this year

Russia should be producing 31.63 million tonnes of milk this year if the current pace of production in the first seven months is maintained in the remainder of the year.

Vladimir Skvortsov, deputy director of the department of food and processing industry of the Ministry of Agriculture, said recently that in the seven months through July, milk production increased by about 1.3%.

"While maintaining the current pace until the end of the year, we plan that the total milk collection will be 31,630,000 tonnes", he said, as per a report by UkrAgroConsult.

Last year Russia produced 31.1 million tonnes of milk. If the projection for this year is realised, milk production will have increased 1.7% from 2017.

Skvortsov also projected milk production to total 32.5 million tonnes by 2020 "if we have the same favorable development of the dairy industry".

He said Russia is in the process of building a "very high-tech dairy industry", adding that dairy, however, "is the only industry that has not reached the established indicators within the framework of the food security doctrine".

He explained that under the doctrine of food security, the share of domestic milk on the market should be at least 90%. As of last year, the level is 84.1%.