Kazakhstan emerges as key buyer as Russia's dairy exports hit $376 mln in 2023Russia exported $376 million worth of dairy products in 2023, which is the same as the 2022 figure, but the structure of these exports has been transformed, Dmitry Krasnov, head of the Agroexport center under the Ministry of Agriculture, said during the "Russia on the Dairy Map of the World 2030" plenary discussion on Tuesday in Moscow."Russian dairy exports are in a period of transformation. If previously we grew due to the supply of finished products going to neighboring countries, now the driver of dairy exports is supplies of milk powder and whey, including to distant markets," he said. "Shipments of milk powder in 2023 increased almost six times in physical volume to 20,000 tonnes."Exports of powdered skimmed milk reached 17,000 tonnes in 2023, Krasnov said. The largest purchasers were Kazakhstan, Armenia, and Georgia. Shipping has begun to Algeria, which is one of the largest importers of milk powder. "Exports to this country have serious potential for growth," head of the Agroexport center said.Whole milk powder shipments increased 3.5-fold to 2,500 tonnes. The key purchasers were Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Egypt, and China. Shipments to Tunisia have begun. Whey exports doubled to 24,000 tonnes. Most went to China (29% of exports), Belarus and Kazakhstan.In addition to powdered milk, exports of fermented milk products increased 6% to 72,000 tonnes, while drinking milk and cream exports rose 36% to 35,000 tonnes.Agroexport said that export volumes of dairy products overall increased 24% to 207,000 tonnes. At the same time, Krasnov drew attention to the fact that, in milk-equivalent, export volumes in January-November 2023 increased 20% to 904,000 tonnes, approaching 2021's entire volume of 1 million tonnes.The bulk of dairy products are sent to Kazakhstan, Belarus and Uzbekistan, he said. He named China and Mongolia as large foreign markets. In particular, shipments to China increased 50% to $11 million. Exports to Armenia have increased significantly by 32% to $16 million."Last year, trial shipments of products were sent to new markets for us, such as the Philippines, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bangladesh, Vietnam, and Oman. Contracts for shipments to Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and Iraq are in process. There have already been significant deliveries of milk powder to Algeria, Egypt and Tunisia," Krasnov said. (ICE ALMATY)

Fonte notizia: INTERFAX