According to SeaNews Russian Foreign Trade Customs Statistics online service, in Q1 2020 Russia imported 261.6 thousand tons of dairy products, up 19.2% year-on-year, worth $679.5 mn, up 25.5%.
Tonnage-wise, most of the imports were non-condensed milk and cream amounting to 78.7 thousand tons (+34.5%) worth $73.5 mn (+90.4%). The main countries of origin were Belarus and Kazakhstan.
Cheese import increased by 21% up to 68.7 thousand tons in terms of tonnage, and by 27.8% up to $286.6 mn in terms of value. More than three quarters pf cheese came from Belarus.
Condensed milk and cream import amounted to 36.2 thousand tons (-14.2%) worth $88.9 mn (-11.8%). The largest share of this volume was shipped from Belarus and Uruguay.
Butter import made 31 thousand tons (25.5%) worth $151.2 mn (+26.8%), mostly from Belarus.
The main exporter of kefir and yogurt to Russia was Belarus. In the first quarter of 2020, kefir import made to 9.7 thousand tons (+47%) worth 6.7 mn (+59.5%), and yogurt import was 5.1 thousand tons (+21.4%) worth 9.5 mn (+41.8%).
In the first quarter of 2020, dairy products were supplied to Russia from 25 countries. The major exporting country was Belarus. Also, significant amounts were shipped from New Zealand, Kazakhstan and Argentina.
Thus, 202.3 thousand tons of dairy products was imported from Belarus, 18.4% more than during the same period in 2019. In monetary terms, dairy imports from Belarus increased by 22.4% to make $486.5 mn.
Imports from New Zealand increased by 25.2% up to 12.9 thousand tons in terms of tonnage and by 56% up to $62.7 mn in monetary terms. Most of this was butter.
Kazakhstan exported to Russia 11.6 thousand tons (+23.4%) of dairy products worth $7.9 mn (+29.5%). A significant share of imports were non-condensed milk and cream, as well as cheese and curds.
10 thousand tons (+9.9%) of dairy products worth $42.8 mn (+32.9%) was shipped to Russia from Argentina. It was mainly butter, cheese and curds, as well as condensed milk and cream.