Russia could almost triple dry skim milk exports in 2023, double whey shipments - Soyuzmoloko

MOSCOW. Nov 21 (Interfax) - Russia could significantly increase exports of dried dairy products this year, said Artem Belov, general director of the National Union of Milk Producers (Soyuzmoloko).

"At the end of this year, we expect that the volume of skim milk powder exports will increase almost threefold, and milk whey powder shipments by almost twofold. And these are not abstract figures and not a low base effect," Belov said at the conference "2023 Export Guides: New Markets and Opportunities" organized by the Agriculture Ministry's Agroexport center.

The projected export volume of whey will be about 10% of production volume, skim milk powder - 12-15%, he said. "This [exports], indeed, is becoming a tool that, among other things, will properly regulate our domestic market, providing profitability in the production of raw materials and in processing," the head of the union said, noting that this year saw "a serious breakthrough in the export of exchange goods."

This concerns, in particular, the "difficult market of Algeria", Belov said. "We can say that the first containers with products are already in port, I hope they will reach their destinations," he said.

As reported following a recent business mission of Russian exporters of agricultural products to Algeria, a number of Russian companies are negotiating the supply of milk powder to this country. Algeria imports up to 400,000 tonnes of milk powder annually.

According to the Union's presentation, in 2022 Russia exported dairy products worth $465 million, including whey and whey-based products worth $20 million and powdered milk worth $16 million. The main exports were sour-milk products worth $108 million and cheese worth $78 million. Russia was 15th, in the world ranking of exporters at the end of last year.

In terms of skimmed milk powder (111,000 tonnes) and whole milk powder (69,000 tonnes) production, Russia was in 9th place.

About 700 Russian companies are certified to export dairy products, with 273 of them actually supplying these products, Belov said.

Dmitry Krasnov, head of Agroexport, said at the conference that to support agricultural exporters, the center has formed a special library that contains 127 export guides, 21 concepts for promoting priority products to key foreign markets and more than 500 other analytical materials.