Opportunity Opens for Irish Dairy in Russia

IRELAND - A recent report commissioned by Bord Bia on the Russian dairy ingredient industry found that there were significant opportunities for Irish producers to supply dairy ingredients to Russia. In particular two areas of demand gap that stood out were whey products and MPCs.
calendar icon 27 April 2009
clock icon 2 minute read

Whey products have not traditionally been produced or used in the Russian food industry. However there are key industries where whey powder (and to a lesser extent permeate) have become important ingredients during the last five years:

  • Ice cream and meat production - This has meant that local whey powder production has taken off (2006: 29,000 tonnes vs 2001: 5,000 tonnes) but imports remain high at 52,000 tonnes.

  • Calf milk replacers - Local production of calf milk replacers (CMR) is 12,000 tonnes, just 5% of output resulting in imports of around 25,000-30,000 tonnes. Significant growth of production of CMRs is expected over the next five years as a reflection of huge investments in livestock improvement.

Further potential for whey products is offered in infant formulae production, led by major players such as Nutricia, Nutritek and potentially by Wimm-Bill- Dann and UniMilk, both of which are involved only in liquid baby foods at present. Symbolic of the future growth was the decision by Nutricia to move its production of Nutrilon from the Netherlands to Russia.

MPCs are also used in only minor quantities at present. However significant opportunities are likely in cheese milk extension (CME). Cheese production has been constrained in particular by the limited availability of cheese milk. This problem is exacerbated by seasonality and by the success of the fresh products businesses in sourcing a high proportion of the better quality local milk supplies. However, most major manufacturers have announced plans for significant increases in their cheese output.

TheCattleSite News Desk

© 2000 - 2024 - Global Ag Media. All Rights Reserved | No part of this site may be reproduced without permission.