In 2020 Agrocomplex sold 2.5 times more cheeses in retail
‘In total, 1,700 tons of cheese were sent to retail chains and distribution (770 tons were sent to retail chains),’ Fedoseyev said. ‘For comparison, in 2019, this figure was 650 tons.’ For dairy products, retail sales increased by 17% (23 thousand tons compared to 18 thousand tons in 2019). ‘The main driver was the federal retail chains, which grew by 25%,’ he said. ‘The most popular items were milk and kefir.’
He also noted that in branded retail, despite the negative effect of the restrictions associated with the pandemic, Agrocomplex managed to maintain the indicators for these categories at the level of last year.
At the same time, the market did not show an explosive growth in consumption. In January-September 2020, the consumption of traditional dairy products continued to recover after a decline in 2019: in general, it increased by 0.4% (including drinking milk - by 1.2% and sour cream - by 5.3%). The demand for cheese increased by 7.1%.
Among the factors in this stability against the background of a general decline in incomes are trends to healthier nutrition in the conditions of self-isolation, the increase in the share of domestic tourism and the long-term trend of growth in production of commercial milk due to commissioning of new facilities, the intensification of production and increase of level of marketability. The increase in raw milk prices, which, according to ICAR, amounted to 4.7%-4.8% compared to the average value of 2019, retains incentives to invest in production.
According to Rosstat, in January-November 2020, processed milk was produced by 1.3%, and cheese — by 5.7% more than in the same period of 2019. The growth in the segment of cottage cheese was 5%, cream - 14.6%.
In 2021, ICAR predicts the expansion of dairy production in most categories: drinking milk will grow by approximately 1%, sour cream - by 3%, cottage cheese - by 4.5%, cream - by 14%. The growth in the cheese and cheese products segment may reach 10%, while it may be restructured due to a decrease in household incomes: in this case, the share of budget products with milk fat substitutes will increase.
Previously, we reported that in 2020 Agrocomplex named after N.I. Tkachev increased the production of cheese by 54% (up to 9.3 thousand tons), the volume of daily milk processing — by 18% (up to 523 tons). The plans for 2021 are to increase the daily processing to 570 tons, launch the construction of a factory for the production of blue cheeses and two dairy complexes for 2,800 milking cows and a daily production volume of 85 tons of milk each.
