Have you tried cheese balls? Which products of JSC Postavy Dairy Plant are in high demand

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Big MILK starts in the field. This year, the drought forced farmers to adjust their harvesting strategy. I even had to compress the burnt areas in some places - for green fodder. But when winter barley yielded at 40 centners per hectare, or even 60 centners per hectare, as in Kamaisky-Agro OJSC in the Postavy district, this is already a real success.

Collect every grain

- We must save every spikelet, every grain! - says Konstantin Gailevsky, DIRECTOR of the Postavy Dairy Plant OJSC, to the machine operators, who arrived at one of the fields of this farm, which is part of an agro-industrial association, which, in addition to the plant, includes five farms in the region.

it should be noted that such associations are a unique phenomenon for the country. Strong industrial enterprises became the locomotives of the agro-industrial unions of the Vitebsk region. In the Postavy region, this is the Postavy Dairy Plant. The tandem of processors and milk producers in recent years has helped to resolve the most important problems of farmers. Undoubtedly, the possibility of restructuring the farms' debts played a role in solving financial problems. But if this had just ended, they would hardly have been able to independently increase production volumes and raise their management to a new level.

In fact, the mechanism of such partnership proved to be quite effective. The factory workers organized a centralized system for the purchase of fertilizers and plant protection products. Purchase through tenders gave villagers savings

in 30-40%. Every harvest season, and the harvest-2023 is no exception, Postavy Dairy sends its own mechanized detachment to the fields of the farms. And these are just some of the examples of such support, which has yielded good results over the years of cooperation.

It is no coincidence that when President ALEXANDER LUKASHENKO came to Postavy Dairy in 2022 to, in particular, discuss the effectiveness of agro-industrial associations, the HEAD of state was convinced of their viability:

- There should be such associations!

... On the day of our arrival, the plant's machine operators were working on fodder. They prepared the vacant fields for sowing oil radish. Despite the drought, they used every chance to increase the volume of green fodder harvesting necessary for a comfortable wintering of livestock. The plant once again provided the villagers with its reliable shoulder - at the most difficult moment, when the drought mixed up all the cards.

Today, three forage harvesters (two Gomselmash OJSC and one JAGUAR) and two New Holland grain harvesters work on the farms' fields. That is, the plant helps out the villagers, as once agricultural machinery . In addition, the enterprise leased another 10 combine harvesters for farms, purchased 26 tractors for them, and a train of trailers. Another 13 tractors were leased to farms.

Now it is already clear that the livestock of all five farms will be full this winter: the herds will not be left without green fodder and fodder grain. This means that the dairy plant will be provided with raw materials in full. If we turn to the numbers, the farmers are actively working to increase its volumes. For 6 months, the gross milk production of all five agricultural enterprises increased by 16%, and the number of cattle - by 821 heads!

“In addition, given that the plant processes about 300 tons of milk daily, the company also purchases milk from producers in the Uzden, Slonim, Dyatlovsky, Orsha, Sennensky, Smorgon regions,” says Georgy Kosten, First Deputy Director of Postavy Dairy Plant OJSC.

Chedder Red, VILNO, "Gouda" and others...

While a real battle for the harvest was unfolding in the fields, the main part of the staff of Postavy Dairy Plant OJSC is engaged in the production of whole milk products, cheeses, butter cow butter. It must be said that the enterprise copes with its tasks to ensure the country's food security perfectly well. In the first half of the year, Postavy Dairy Plant OJSC has already processed 52,000 tons of milk. 8,642 thousand tons of whole milk products, butter - 495 tons, cheese - 3,882 thousand tons were produced.

...When we looked at the cheese production site, in fact - an automatic plant (VPS-Czech Republic), where the task of cheese makers and maintenance personnel is to manage the process of cooking and ripening, we saw how one of the most popular brands - Chedder Red is made. She is known for being liked by the President during his visit to the Postavy Dairy Plant.

- Delicious! – then the head of state said.

Recall that the next week, Chedder Red disappeared from the city's retail shelves. The increased demand for cheese forced stores to urgently replenish its stocks.

With the growing popularity of Pastavy Gorodok brand cheeses, the company acquired two slicing lines - a bar and a slice.

We also visited a section for cutting and packing cheeses.

The working day was in full swing, and the next shift of factory workers only had time to put different types of cheese into boxes: in individual packaging in the form of a bar weighing 200 g and cutting - the thinnest slices weighing less - 150 g. The enterprise sells up to 30% of the produced cheeses in this form.

For the buyer, such care is pleasant, for trade it is convenient and low-cost, for the plant it is profitable.

Which brands are most popular with consumers today?

- Almost everything. But most of all, in our branded trade, such as Cheddar Red, Cheddar White, VILNO, Gouda, Gruyère, Maazdam de Luxe, Parmesan Grand Postavy Gorodok and others are in demand, - says the first deputy director of the plant Georgy Kosten.

The enterprise studies consumer demand, first of all, in company trade. Taking care of production volumes, sales growth in other regions of the country and for EXPORT , the factory workers do everything so that their products - milk, kefir , fermented baked milk, butter , rennet cheeses - are always on the table of their countrymen - residents of the district center and villages of the Postavy region. The network includes shops: "Alenka", which the company opened last year near the factory entrance, urban - "Dairy Products", "Milk", "Ranitsa", "Milk Paradise", "Like Cheese in Butter" - and a retail outlet in the agricultural town of Dunilovichi called "Postavy-gorodok".

...and now Cheese balls

The dairy recently launched a new product in the snack category, Cheese balls. Without oil, flavors - pure dried cheese (moisture - 1-2%). A cool snack in cups with a colorful label weighing 75 grams has already found fans. It turned out to be a worthy and healthy replacement for potato chips!

This cheese snack is made from semi-hard cheeses on experimental equipment. Its production volumes are still small, but demand is already 5 times higher than supply, so the company is purchasing additional equipment to expand production. The buyer liked the quality of the product, the price was affordable. Cheese balls were also appreciated by the participants of the exhibition "BelAgro" and, in particular, by representatives of the delegation from St. Petersburg.

– In August, we will expand the line of cheese snacks, – Georgy Kosten promises and clarifies: – We will start producing with garlic, onions, paprika, smoked flavor.

Export tasks

If the entire line of whole milk from Postavy - milk, kefir, fermented baked milk, sour cream, cream - goes to the domestic market, then butter and especially Postavy cheeses are also export goods.

The year 2022 turned out to be successful for the enterprise: the export of products of Postavy Dairy Plant OJSC amounted to 145% by 2021, the return on sales was almost 20%, net profit was 16 million rubles, investments were 140 % .

“This year is turning out to be more difficult than the previous one,” says First Deputy Director Georgy Kosten. - Partially sank exports - both in value terms and in volumes.

If at one time Belarusian cheese producers closed the "gap" of cheese imports in RUSSIA, which arose due to sanctions, today the situation has begun to change. The fact is that the Russian Federation, which has been and remains the main foreign market for our dairy products, over the past 7 years has increased its own milk production by 25%, and has also built a number of factories for their production. As a result, stocks of Belarusian cheese makers are growing. The fall of the Russian ruble also played a negative role.

But the staff of the Postavy Dairy Plant remains optimistic - it continues to work to increase exports, focusing on cooperation with federal retail chains of Russia, such as Magnit, Monetka, and is looking for new markets.

Investment in the future

Improving sales strategies, the company takes care of the prospects for its own development. Investments in the fixed capital of JSC Postavy Dairy Plant almost doubled in the first half of 2023 (181% compared to the same period in 2022).

“We have started the reconstruction of the boiler house, the capacity of which will increase by 1.5 times,” First Deputy Director Georgy Kosten shares his plans. “Its introduction will allow increasing production volumes, mastering new types of products.

In parallel, the plant began to build new treatment facilities. The increase in their capacities by 2.5 times will become an additional springboard for further expansion of production. The existing ones are working at full capacity. In addition, the enterprise is completing the reconstruction of the MTF for 440 dairy cows and a train of young animals at Znamya Pobedy-Agro OJSC. At the design stage is a new grain drying complex, the equipment of which has already been purchased. The plans include the launch of a line for the production of cottage cheese, the manufacture of equipment for which, as well as its installation, is carried out by a Slovak company, one of the suppliers of equipment for the cheese-making workshop.

Plans - quite real, serious. They open up new development prospects for Postavy Dairy Plant OJSC, an enterprise that is one of the market leaders thanks to a competent manager Konstantin Gailevsky, a well-coordinated team of specialists and employees of the enterprise.

Strong industrial enterprises became the locomotives of the agro-industrial unions of the Vitebsk region. In the Postavy region, this is the Postavy Dairy Plant.

In the first half of the year, Postavy Dairy Plant OJSC has already processed 52,000 tons of milk. 8,642 thousand tons of whole milk products, butter - 495 tons, cheese - 3,882 thousand tons were produced.

Tamara MARKINA

Photo by Vitaliy PIVOVARCHIK and from the archive of the enterprise