Russian, Belarusian agricultural ministries to involve business in forming joint food balances

MOSCOW. Jan 21 (Interfax) - The Russian Agriculture Ministry and the Belarusian Agriculture and Food Ministry will involve business in forming joint food balances, primarily for dairy products.

The plans were announced at the third forum of dairy industry leaders in Moscow on Wednesday.

Responding to a statement by one of its participants about the non-competitive positions of Russian and Belarusian producers on the Russian dairy market (in particular, raw milk prices are lower in Belarus) and about plans to create a working group for forming and controlling food balances, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Patrushev said that, in his opinion, Russian producers are coping quite well with their tasks and often win out in competition. "After all, our shelves mostly feature our own producers," he said.

"If we're talking about the need to create a working group so that business is more broadly represented in this work, I am not against it in principle," Patrushev said. "Let's ask, we have two ministers present here today [Russian Agriculture Minister Oksana Lut and Belarusian Agriculture and Food Minister Yuri Gorlov], so that they involve business in their work on determining supply levels, balance levels. In principle, this is all absolutely possible. Well, and we of course will adhere primarily to the principle of protecting our own producers."

Nevertheless, a single market for goods and services has practically been formed within the Union State, he said. "Of course, on market terms, taking into account the Union State, we are happy to welcome goods from Belarus to our market. At the same time, balances for supplies have been formed and are being maintained," he said.

"We should not regulate this entry [supplies of Belarusian dairy products to the Russian Federation], because we live in a single space," Lut said at the forum. "There are nuances that we need to resolve together with Belarus. But we have a common market, and we must proceed from that; there will be no other. This must be accepted, and we must move forward with this goal."

According to Lut's presentation, milk production in the Union State grew to 43.2 million tonnes in 2025 from 42.8 million tonnes in 2024. It should increase to 46.4 million tonnes by 2030.