The Russian economic crisis is taking its toll on the European dairy industry, with the Baltic markets particularly hard hit.
Lithuania counts on Russia for 21% of its exports (all industries), and Russian debt to the country’s dairies has now gone beyond the $7.5 million mark. Lithuania has ceased to sell its products to the troubled state but a meeting between the two countries’ trade departments has resulted in the establishment of a scheme for repayment through barter exchanges.
Latvia, meanwhile, depends on Russia for 17% of its exports. Rezekne, a producer of tinned milk which sells 70% of its goods in Russia, has suspended deliveries. The company says it is looking to diversify its operations by increasing sales to Western Europe and central Asian states.
In Estonia, processors are lowering the prices they pay for raw milk in the face of oversupply caused by the Russian crisis. Tallinna Piimatoostus, the country’s second largest dairy, and Voru Juust, the country’s largest cheesemaker, have both cut the price at which they buy milk by 13.6%.
The effects of the Russian crisis are also being felt in Western Europe. Russia buys 200,000 tonnes of butter a year