9 Oct 2024 16:38

Russia's milk production may exceed 34 mln tonnes in 2024 - agriculture minister

MOSCOW. Oct 9 (Interfax) - Milk production in Russia may exceed 34 million tonnes this year, Russian Agriculture Minister Oksana Luth said during a government hour at the Federation Council on Wednesday.

"We produced 33.8 million tonnes of milk last year in all areas of production, in both the organized and non-organized sectors. The sufficiency level [according to the food security doctrine] was 86%. We expect an increase this year; we should produce more than 34 million tonnes," Luth said.

All established support measures remain in place in the industry, she said. "The industry is a difficult one; it takes a long time to develop and produce results," she said. Luth cited subsidies per liter of milk, support for pedigree breeding, reimbursing the capital costs of building dairy facilities, repaying up to 50% of equipment costs and other steps as examples of state support.

"Overall, our plans involve milk contributing to 25% growth in agro-industrial production volumes by 2030. And we are setting a figure of 38.5 million tonnes, that's how much milk we should produce. At the same time, I'd like to mention that this isn't just growth of 5 million tonnes compared to 2023. Production on our private farms is loss-making every year. We expect that by this time about 1.5 million tonnes will come from private farms; we should also substitute this amount through the industrial sector," she said.