May 21, 2019, 01:16 / Business

Miratorg will produce dairy products

Now it is a leader in the production of pork and beef Ekaterina Burlakova

Miratorg will launch production of bottled pasteurized milk under its own brand in September / Anton Novoderezhkin / TASS

Miratorg will launch production of bottled pasteurized milk under its own brand in September, company vice-president Alexander Nikitin told Vedomosti. Miratorg is Russia's largest producer of pork (423,000 tons in live weight) and beef (108,000 tons), according to industry unions for 2018. Plans to also become one of the leaders in the dairy market and create a vertically integrated dairy production Miratorg announced in 2017. The dairy project will include farms, as well as the production of dairy, fermented milk products and cheeses, the company reported, estimating investments in the project at $400 million. The total dairy herd will be up to 20,000 heads. The plans are being maintained, design is currently underway, the company has not yet chosen a region for implementation, says Nikitin, but does not specify the investments.

Milk production will be located on the Blagodatnenskaya farm, which the company acquired in 2014, and three years later launched a site there for fattening bull calves obtained from dairy cows (used for the production of pink veal). In 2017, the state approved Miratorg more than 700 million rubles for this project. subsidies under the dairy farming support program. Soyuzmoloko objected to this, because the product of such a complex is not milk, but meat.

The dairy herd there is about 1000 cows. For now, this will be a small production in the Kursk region, designed for approximately 10 tons of milk per day, says Nikitin. Investments in such production could amount to 50–60 million rubles, estimates Soyuzmolok CEO Artem Belov. Previously, the company sold raw milk from this farm in bulk, but now it has decided to start producing processed products here in order to try its hand at this market, Nikitin says. The installation of the production line there is currently being completed.

For now, Miratorg packaged milk will only be sold in its own supermarkets. These will be products in the mid-price segment - with a retail price of 50–70 rubles. per liter Nikitin considers the dairy market interesting - Russian producers do not yet fully provide themselves with dairy products. Soyuzmolok data confirms this: Russia provides itself with 80% of dairy products.

The main owner of the Ekonova agricultural holding (Russia's largest producer of raw milk), Stefan Duerr, supports the emergence of new large producers in the country: when there are serious producers on the market, it is easier to fight counterfeit products - inexpensive products that unscrupulous producers make using vegetable fats, passing off for whole milk. Russian producers and processors still produce less dairy products than the market needs, so there is room for new major players, Duerr believes.

In the future, when the company begins its large dairy project, it plans to produce milk and dairy products containing A2 beta-casein, says Nikitin. Information about this is also contained in the materials of Rospatent. It is believed that such milk is more natural for the human body, is better absorbed and less likely to cause allergies, explains Nikitin. A2 milk is recommended for people with dairy intolerance, says Andrey Mogutov, head of sales and development at Alta Genetics in the North-West. Now, the main part of dairy products is not separated during collection and contains the protein beta-casein A1 and its mixture with A2, the expert clarifies. While research and discussions are ongoing about the properties of milk containing A2 beta-casein protein, Belov says. Some experts believe that this is nothing more than a marketing ploy, while others agree that it is useful. In Russia, its only producer is A2 Moloko, says Belov.

A2 Milk began producing products without A1 protein in 2017 - the company tests both raw materials and finished products for the absence of A1 protein, says Vartan Avetov, co-owner and general director of A2 Milk. The products are sold in 200 retail stores (“Azbuka Vkusa”, “Your House”, “Globus Gourmet”, etc.).

Manufacturers can use this feature as a competitive advantage and sell their product as a more expensive and safer premium product, Mogutov believes. The cost of a liter of A2 milk at retail starts from 140 rubles, says Avetov. In world practice, such products are also more expensive - about twice as expensive as regular ones, he says. The cost of such milk is no different from regular milk and Miratorg will sell it at the same price, Nikitin objects, its goal is to create a mass product. Duerr says he also studied the possibility of producing A2 milk, but came to the conclusion that it was nothing more than a marketing ploy.