The 6th International Agricultural Dairy Forum, a key event of the Russian dairy industry, has come to an end. Over the two days, the event was attended by more than 3,000 visitors from 33 countries; among them were 1,000 producers of dairy products, over 100 media representatives, and several dozens of exhibitors. In the margins of the Forum, the Action Plan for cooperation between the Moscow region and the Republic of Belarus was signed; a new enterprise of the OSP Agro agricultural holding company able to house 1,199 cows was opened, and 11 agreements worth approximately 11.5 billion rubles were concluded.
"Every year the Dairy Forum is gaining more and more international recognition and is becoming a key platform for the development of the dairy industry in Russia. Over the six years the Forum has been attended by about 13 thousand people from dozens of countries; as many as 50 contracts worth over 36 billion rubles were signed . For the Moscow Region the main result of the Forum was billions of rubles of investments, dozens of entrepreneurs who got interested in our region, hundreds of new jobs, as well as growing popularity of the region at the global level. And we will definitely continue our work next year ," said Vadim Khromov, Deputy Chairman of the Moscow Region Government.
The business programme covered all aspects of the industry development. Representatives of Moscow and Moscow region, major dairy producers from Russia and abroad, foreign delegates and experts discussed prospects for Russian dairy products exports, new technological solutions, issues related to livestock breeding and marketing promotion of products, as well as the impacts of mandatory electronic veterinary certification.
Among the key speakers of the strategic session and plenary session of the Forum were Dmitry Patrushev, Minister of Agriculture of the Russian Federation, Andrey Vorobyov, Governor of the Moscow Region, Elena Fastova, Deputy Minister of Agriculture of the Russian Federation, Vadim Khromov, Deputy Chairman of the Moscow Region Government, Andrey Razin, Minister of Agriculture of the Moscow Region, Artem Belov, Director General of Soyuzmoloko, and Tatyana Tkachenko, Government Relations Director of Danone Russia.
For the first time in the history of the forum, a lot of foreign delegates took part in key sessions, among them producers, government officials and experts, including Philippe Menier, Vice President of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Regional Council, France, Adrian Aebi, Assistant Director General of the Swiss Federal Office of Agriculture, Ghassan Sayegh, Director General of MEAP (Lebanon), Michelle Nalet, Public Relations President of the Lactalis Group, and others. The first day of the Forum was completed with a round table discussion in which a French delegation took part; Dragan Šašić, Director General of the Serbian Mlekara Šabac dairy plant, signed a memorandum of intent to invest 1.4 billion rubles in the construction of a cheese plant with production capacity of 75 tons per day in the Moscow Region.
Russian manufacturers, on their part, confirmed their plans to launch new enterprises in the region. AIS FermaRosta will invest 4 billion rubles in a cattle breeding complex for 5,000 milking cows and a dairy plant with a processing capacity of 300 tons per day. OOO Russkiy Buyvol will invest 3.1 billion rubles in a combined complex for the production of high-quality cow and buffalo milk. OOO Zvezda Podmoskovya will build a cheese plant in the Moscow Region cheese cluster worth 1.022 billion rubles. OOO KAPRIKA will open a dairy plant worth 1 billion rubles, which will house 3,000 fodder goats with a milk processing facility. OOO Rota-Agro will invest 600 million rubles in a cheese plant project in the Naro-Fominsk region. Several small enterprises will be launched on the basis of peasant and private farms near Moscow. The total amount of investment exceeds approximately 11.5 billion rubles, 700 new jobs will be created.
"Foreign delegations and investors were most interested in the Cheese Cluster in the Dmitrov district. Four residents are already building factories there, but there are still sites on their second construction stage and free land plots available. The regional government has provided serious support; engineering communications have been provided and a road has been built. Another area of cooperation is the construction of processing clusters near the largest transport and logistics complexes through which goods will be supplied to the CIS countries, China and South-East Asia. Locating production facilities in close proximity will reduce transportation costs and increase opportunities for the development of product exports," said Anton Loginov, Deputy Minister of Investments and Innovation of the Moscow Region.
Another enterprise was launched on the first day of the Dairy Forum. Igor Isaev, President of the OSP Agro agricultural holding company, held a ceremonial opening of a modern dairy farm in presence of the Russian Minister of Agriculture Dmitry Patrushev and Andrey Vorobyov, the Governor of the Moscow Region. The farm will house 1,199 cows. During the construction of the cattle breeding complex in the Sennitsa-1 village (Moscow region), cutting-edge technical solutions were applied, among them loose animal housing, feeding with self-propelled feed mixers, milking with the use of milking carousels equipped with automatic computer systems for herd management, and many other features.
In addition, a ceremonial signing of the Action Plan for the implementation of the agreement on trade, economic, scientific, technical and cultural cooperation of the Moscow region with the Republic of Belarus for the period from 2020 to 2022 was held on the margins of the Forum. The parties agreed to promote mutual supplies of agricultural products and foodstuffs, cooperate in the development of livestock breeding and crop production. An agreement on cooperation was also signed between the Moscow Region and State University of Land Use Planning. Another agreement was signed between a Moscow Region milk producer and the Auchan supermarket chain for the supply of products.
The traditional exhibition of dairy products and technological features from the largest manufacturers of the Moscow region and other Russian regions has extremely expanded this year. In total, more than 20 exhibitors were represented at the Forum, among them AO Voskresenskoe, Cheburashkin Brothers, Ruzskoe Moloko, Dmitrovsky Dairy Plant, Ecolean and many others. During the two days, the participants had access to the culinary area, a cheese exhibition from the Moscow Region cheese manufacturers and the Smart Tasting stand, where people could taste dairy products and their first impressions were assessed by artificial intelligence.
The International Agricultural Dairy Forum is a key event aimed at reinforcing the dairy industry, as well as at drawing attention of the state and investors to this dynamically developing market, its export potential and opportunities for import substitution. Every year, multimillion agreements on cooperation and investment are signed at the Forum venue, the Moscow Region Government House. Communication between manufacturers, investors and state regulators takes place at panel discussions, seminars and round tables.
General Partner: OSP Agro Agricultural Holding Company
Partner: ROTA AGRO Group of Companies
Business programme partner: Mustang Nutrition Technology
Business programme partner: Russian Agricultural Bank