New product positions and promising markets. How Belarus is increasing the export of dairy products

Belarus occupies one of the leading positions in the world in MILK production per capita. More than 1.8 thousand types of dairy products are supplied to foreign markets, and the EXPORT geography is represented by 50 countries. The domestic dairy industry is in constant development and improvement, as well as the search for mechanisms to increase production and economic efficiency. Ksenia Meleshko, head of the main department of foreign economic activity of the Ministry of Agriculture and Food, spoke about the situation with the export of Belarusian dairy products, promising markets and the results of deliveries for the current period.

The situation in the dairy industry of Belarus

According to Ksenia Meleshko, the level of self-sufficiency in dairy products through our own production in our country is 260%. In addition, according to preliminary estimates, within five years the volume of exports of dairy products will increase by more than 10%.

“The share of dairy products in the total exports of agricultural products and food products is more than 40%. I would like to note that this is the main product that provides our industry. Over the 8 months of 2023, we have significantly increased the natural volumes of exports of the main types of dairy products. Thus, the export of animal butter origin increased by 20%, cheeses and cottage cheese - by 1.5%, canned milk - by 4.4%, milk and cream in consumer packaging - by 10%.This year, the main factor that influenced the increase in export revenue of dairy products was - physical volume,” said the head of the main department of foreign economic activity of the Ministry of Agriculture and Food.

Based on the results of January - July 2023, Belarus maintains a leading position in the world ranking of dairy product exports. Thus, our country ranks 3rd in the export of butter and whey powder, 5th in skimmed milk powder, and 4th in cheese and cottage cheese.

Structure of dairy product exports

“In the structure of exports of dairy products, the main share is occupied by cheeses and cottage cheese (44%), butter - 19%, whole milk products - 11%, skimmed milk powder - 11%, whole milk powder - 3.7%, cottage cheese - 3.8%, other products - 8.6%," the specialist said.

Speaking about the structure of exports by regions of our country, she noted that the main share of cheeses falls on the Brest, Gomel and Grodno regions, butter - on the MINSK, Grodno and Brest regions, whole milk products - on the Minsk and Brest regions, skimmed milk powder - on Minsk, Grodno and Gomel, whole milk powder - to the Grodno and Vitebsk regions.

“In addition, we analyzed the structure of packaging in the context of individual regions and see that the highest share of packaged products for butter falls on the Brest region, cheese - in the Gomel region, and skimmed milk powder - in the Vitebsk region. The development of packaged products is one of our strategic directions, which we are working on with agricultural committees, as well as some enterprises,” emphasized Ksenia Meleshko.

Where is Belarusian milk supplied?

The head of the main department of foreign economic activity of the Ministry of Agriculture and Food drew attention to the fact that our country still has work to do in expanding sales markets for Belarusian products.

"Diversification of export shipments of dairy products is a hot topic. The current and previous years have shown that we need to focus on this. The most relevant markets for our export supplies among the CIS countries are RUSSIA, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan, and in Asian countries - CHINA , Georgia , Israel, Philippines, Mongolia. In the Gulf countries, we are developing cooperation with the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Iran and Oman. In Africa, we are interested in Ghana, Egypt, Gambia and others ," assured the specialist from the Ministry of Agriculture and Food.

According to her, over 8 months of this year, Belarus has increased the export of dairy products to Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan , Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan and Tajikistan. In addition, shipments to countries in Asia and Oceania such as Indonesia, Bangladesh, Syria, Israel, Turkey, Yemen , Pakistan, UAE, Oman, Iraq and Qatar have increased.

“Also this year, we successfully shipped products to Cuba. There are further plans to increase the supply of powdered milk there. Over 8 months, we increased the shipment of dairy products to the African market - an increase of 8.9%. Thus, shipments of products to Senegal and Egypt have begun ", stated Ksenia Meleshko.

She also spoke about products that are supplied to already developed markets. “For example, we used to ship powdered skim milk to the UAE, and now we have also started ice cream . This suggests that we continue to develop markets already known to us through new product items. This year, one butter and cheese plant in our country began supplying cheese and dry dairy products to the Republic of Korea , as well as whole milk substitutes to Mongolia. In addition, the first deliveries of dry mix for ice cream and dietary food to the Russian Federation were made," said the head of the main department of foreign economic activity of the Ministry of Agriculture and Food.

Work on the Russian market

As Ksenia Meleshko emphasized, the Russian Federation, of course, occupies the main share of export supplies of Belarusian dairy products.

“Russia is our main market. We see that according to the strategy for the development of the agro-industrial complex until 2030, the level of self-sufficiency in dairy products in Russia will not reach 100%. Therefore, for Belarusian producers, the niche for export shipments in the Russian market is still open. We work on supplies dairy products with 77 regions of the Russian Federation. Our dairy products are present in all federal districts and their share is only increasing," said a specialist from the Ministry of Agriculture and Food.

At the same time, she added that it is necessary to work with Russia to increase profitability for our milk processing enterprises. We are talking about creating subjects of the commodity distribution network, working with remote regions of the Russian Federation, as well as retail trade networks.

Prospects for supplies to China

As the head of the main department of foreign economic activity of the Ministry of Agriculture and Food noted, the Chinese market is one of the most important after the Russian Federation.

“The main share of dairy product exports to the Chinese market is skimmed milk powder (60%), whey (about 30%), and whole milk powder (9.2%). Also this year, our enterprises are increasing the production of milk in the consumer market. packaging. We signed a protocol with China to expand access of our enterprises to their market. In the future we plan to increase supplies to the Chinese market not only of dairy products, but also of a wide range of other goods," the specialist shared her plans.

Further plans for work in global markets

Speaking about promising markets for the dairy industry, Ksenia Meleshko noted that the main work in this direction is carried out by the Veterinary Department of the Ministry of Agriculture and Food. It is he who ensures the coordination of all veterinary requirements on world markets.

“The leadership of our country pays great attention to working with the African market. We have made a certain analysis of which markets on this continent will be promising for development by our enterprises. We are already working with Côte d'Ivoire, Zimbabwe and Senegal. We supply whey there, skimmed milk powder and baby food,” summarized the head of the main department of foreign economic activity of the Ministry of Agriculture and Food.

BELTA.