05.04.2022
Market offer. current milk production.
Overall, the dairy industry has steadily declined over the past 3 decades. If we look at the official statistics for the last 10 years only, the drop was sharp. Milk production decreased from 575 thousand tons in 2009 to 367 thousand tons in 2019 (-38%). Only in the period 2017-2019. there was a sharp decline in milk production from 485 thousand tons in 2017 to 367 thousand tons in 2019.
Imports register an increase of 405% compared to 2009 compared to 2019, or an increase in imports from 40 thousand tons in 2009 to 162 thousand tons in 2019. Thus, in 2019, milk imports accounted for 30% of the total consumed milk. 94% of local milk is produced by households (families). Only 6% of milk is used for processing, comes from agricultural enterprises. The state of the livestock industry continues to be largely determined by the situation in households, in which, as of January 1, 2019, 85.6% of the total population of cattle was concentrated, of which 94.4% cows, which is the main source of local household milk production (milk production - 93.6%). Only 5% of available cows are owned by agricultural holdings, which means that Moldova de facto does not have a distinct livestock industry, the vast majority of cows are owned and individual/family use, not industrial.
The support measures envisaged by the National Fund for the Development of Agriculture and the Rural Environment for the creation and development of agricultural holdings for breeding milk cattle are not adapted to the current situation in the industry, which makes farmers avoid investing in this area. The existing livestock subsidy policy had no effect on the quantitative and qualitative development of raw milk (the number of cows kept in decline and the productivity per animal is very low). The weakest point of competitiveness remains the livestock sector, given that the prices in the region for zootechnical products are similar to or higher than in the Republic of Moldova.
Due to the high costs and investment required for development, the sector remains underdeveloped and the export rate is very slow. market demand. The amount of milk required for processors. In 2019, processors processed approx. 354 thousand tons of milk. In recent years, the volume of processed milk annually ranges from 344 to 367 thousand tons per capita. with a decrease in local production from 485 thousand tons in 2017 to 367 thousand tons in 2019.
Milk imports in 2019 amounted to approx. 162 thousand tons of milk. This import was in the form of finished dairy products, such as butter, cheese, cream, etc., but calculated in the equivalent of 162 thousand tons of raw milk. The total annual milk potential that processors can use is 354 thousand tons of local product milk + 162 thousand tons of imported milk or 516 thousand tons of milk. In 2019, only 20.2 thousand tons of milk were supplied by agricultural enterprises. Accordingly, 492.5 thousand tons of milk will be the market demand for raw milk required for processors and produced by agricultural enterprises.