Expocentre hosted the 22nd Russian Congress of Milk Producers and Processors
The 22nd Russian Congress of Milk Producers and Processors and the Annual General Meeting of the Russian Union of Dairy Enterprises were held as part of the Prodexpo 2024 exhibition. The event was held by the Russian Union of Dairy Enterprises at EXPOCENTRE Fairgrounds. The participants reviewed the results of the dairy industry in 2023 and discussed the current situation, as well as the prospects for milk and dairy producers.
The event was moderated by Lyudmila Manitskaya, Chair of the Council of the Russian Union of Dairy Enterprises. For many years, she noted, the congress has provided an opportunity to assess the events of the past year and look ahead. “We gather to discuss the processes taking place in the industry, assess their impact and understand the nature and development trends.”
The event addressed a wide range of issues of interest to all representatives of the industry, including general problems of the agricultural sector and rural areas. Vladimir Kashin, Chair of the State Duma Committee on Agrarian Issues of the Russian Federal Assembly, discussed in detail a number of difficulties faced by Russia’s agribusiness. For example, it was noted that in this industry it is necessary to ensure a fair distribution of income, “the pyramid should be turned towards the producer of primary raw materials”, that is, the labour of agricultural sector worker should be appreciated. At the end of his speech, he stressed that with the support of the President, the Federation Council and other Russian authorities, the problems of the industry are being actively addressed “to make it as easy as possible for workers and production managers to fulfil the mission of breadwinner”.
First Deputy Chair of the Committee of the Federation Council of the Russian Federal Assembly on Agrarian and Food Policy and Nature Management Sergey Mitin drew special attention to the fact that the state standards existing in the dairy industry have not been adjusted for ten years, as a result of which a technical committee was organised to consider and solve this problem.
Sergey Dankvert, Head of the Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance (Rosselkhoznadzor), joined the event via video link and in the course of his report mentioned the information received from representatives of large agricultural holdings that domestic vaccines for farm animals are more effective than American ones.
Sergey Lisovsky, Deputy Chair of the State Duma Committee of the Russian Federal Assembly on Competition Protection, made an important remark: agriculture, including dairy production, should not be viewed only from an economic point of view. First of all, it is the basis of the country’s social development, which, unfortunately, is sometimes forgotten by officials.
Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade of Russia Ekaterina Priyezheva reported on the decision of the Ministry of Industry and Trade to extend the terms of mandatory labelling requirements for dairy products at the request of the business community, but many companies, without waiting for the requirements to come into force, have already registered in the information labelling system and are actively mastering the new tool.
The 22nd Russian Congress of Milk Producers and Processors also addressed issues related to the export and import of dairy products, the environmental agenda, and general problems of the agricultural sector and rural areas. The discussion of these and other issues was attended by Pyotr Chekmarev, Chair of the CCI of Russia Committee for the Development of Agro-Industrial Sector, Deputy President of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Nikolay Vlasov, Advisor to the Head of the Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance (Rosselkhoznadzor), Yulia Kuzmina, Head of the Excise-Free Food Products Department at CRPT (Advanced Technology Development Centre) – the operator of the Chestny ZNAK state labelling system, and Sergey Peregudov, Director General at Biocomplex.
Press Service, EXPOCENTRE AO