Belarus exports cheese to more than 20 countries

May 19, Minsk. Belarus exports cheese to more than 20 countries. This was told to a BelTA correspondent by Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Food of Belarus Alexei Bogdanov during a seminar for specialists in the processing industry "Classic cheeses - modern approaches."

"Belarus occupies the 4th place in the world cheese export ranking - after the European Union, the USA and New Zealand. Today we export our cheeses to 26 countries, we will develop the geography of deliveries. Over the next five years, we plan to significantly increase milk production - up to 9.2 million tons per year. Cheese production will also grow. World statistics show that the volume of trade in this product in the world is growing, so competition in the world market is serious. Today we need to think about diversity, follow global trends, see which cheeses are bought more what are the preferences in different countries," said Alexey Bogdanov.

Last year Belarus produced 276,000 tons of cheese, of which 230,000 tons were delivered abroad. In the first quarter of this year, 60.1 thousand tons of cheese were exported (plus 11.4% in physical terms compared to the same period in 2020). There are plans to further increase supplies.

As for the export of agricultural products and food products in general, it is planned to reach deliveries in the amount of $6 billion this year, and $7 billion by 2025. Dairy products traditionally occupy about 40% of Belarusian food exports.

Seminar for processing industry specialists "Classic cheeses - modern approaches" is held in Minsk with the support of the Ministry of Agriculture and Food. Representatives of 22 Belarusian dairies, cheese makers from the EU countries with many years of experience, as well as specialists from the All-Russian Scientific Research Institute of Butter and Cheese Making are participating in the discussion.