Dairy business

How Belarus makes money on milk and competes with the world’s leading producers

Representatives of 15 processing enterprises of Belarus went to Dubai to participate in the world’s most popular food and beverage exhibition GulFood, which takes place from February 20th to February 24th. The largest annual industry event on the planet, attracting the attention of industry leaders, successful producers, importers, food distributors, restaurateurs, is very popular with visitors from the Gulf states. However, there is special attention to the Belarusians after the visit of the President of Belarus to Zimbabwe and the UAE. The dairy industry has come a long way in the past 20 years. The decisions taken in the early 2000s to revive and develop the countryside, develop the raw materials zone of processing enterprises and directly optimise them turned out to be crucial for the state. Now Belarusian milk is among the best, and its high taste qualities are called indisputable.

Focus on the import substitution 

Experts call the processing of agricultural products one of the key positions of the Belarusian economy. Firstly, this is food security, which our country has been successfully coping with for over ten years. Secondly, by increasing production, we are able to increase our export potential.
Belarus is among the leaders in the world rankings for the export of dairy products.
We export over 70 percent of products with high added value, thereby ensuring the inflow of foreign exchange earnings, stimulating the further development of the dairy industry. The list of the country’s leading holdings includes Savushkin Product, Babushkina Krynka, Molochny Mir and others.
The food embargo imposed against Western countries by Belarus in response to sanctions gave impetus to the development of production with an undisguised emphasis on import substitution.
As a result, there is a wide abundance of dairy products of domestic production on the shelves of our stores.
According to the Agriculture and Food Ministry, the production of elite hard cheeses with long maturation periods, elite blue cheeses according to the formula developed by domestic scientists and soft cheeses, etc. has been rapidly gaining momentum recently. These areas provide a high import-substituting effect and can significantly expand the consumer assortment.

In tandem with science

The development of interstate standards for low-lactose and lactose-free products currently being carried out by Belarusian scientists is of particular relevance. The Institute of Meat and Dairy Industry carried out complex scientific and practical work on the development of technologies for the production of ice cream, curds and curd cheese bars with a reduced carbohydrate content and a reduced calorie content.
According to scientists, products with a high protein content is a new promising direction. The list of innovations can be enumerated for a long time. Most importantly, enterprises implement them in their work and receive competitive products that are in high demand in the domestic and foreign markets.

The Republic of Belarus is in the top-5 exporters of dairy products:

World famous ice cream

During the visit of the President of Belarus to Zimbabwe, a Belarusian-Zimbabwean business forum was held there. Two processing enterprises took part in the event, useful for establishing new mutually beneficial contacts: Babushkina Krynka and Mogilev Meat Processing Plant.
In particular, Babushkina Krynka organised a tasting of its products, including whole milk, yoghurt and dessert groups, cheeses, and curds. They presented delicious soft ice cream, they make the dry mix for it themselves. The main nuance: to prepare the desired consistency, one need to add juice. The Zimbabweans offered their own, orange. It turned out extremely delicious. The First Vice President of Zimbabwe Constantino Chiwenga also tried it.


In general, Babushkina Krynka, management company of the Mogilev Dairy Company Babushkina Krynka Holding Company, produces over 250 product items under six trade brands.
It is also worth noting the brilliant participation of the Babushkina Krynka company in the 30th international exhibition Prodexpo-2023 in Moscow. They took first place in the number of awards: 43 — and all are gold. They managed to break their own record last year, once again confirming the highest quality of their products. The most honourable award is the victory cup in the ‘Best Enterprise’ nomination.
Also, other Belarusian enterprises return home with valuable awards, confirming the great opportunities and excellent prospects for the further development of the industry as a whole.

Fly to Singapore

Strengthening our positions in the markets of other countries, confirming the high quality of our products is a strategic task for processors. A great way is to participate in national, international food and beverage exhibitions.


This year, our top dairy producers are scheduled to take part in more than 20 landmark foreign events. The exhibition in Dubai is one of the highlights. We are presenting our capabilities (for the eighth time already) at a single stand called Belarus. The Taste of Nature.
During the year, Belarusian plants and factories plan to take part in food exhibitions in Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Singapore, China, South Korea, Mongolia, Algeria, Angola and Zimbabwe.

FACT
The level of self-sufficiency in dairy products through own production in Belarus exceeds 260 percent. 
For comparison: in Spain, Bulgaria, Romania it barely reaches 80.

By Diana Bernikovich
Photos by Aleksandr Kulevsky, Aleksey Stolyarov