Anatoly Losev: raising prices for dairy products is inevitable

The expert noted that the market has a tendency to increase prices for raw milk. First of all, this is due to the growth of the currency exchange rate, which directly affects the cost of milk production. Because the cost of meal, part of premixes and veterinary drugs is correlated with the cost of currency, which in turn is reflected in the cost of production of dairy products.

The second factor affecting the increase in prices for raw materials, the expert believes the drought in the current year, which also affects the price of feed groups.

The Head of GC Molvest group noted that when raw material prices increase by 4-5 rubles, processing completely loses profitability, and for some types of products it goes into negative margins, so without adjusting prices on the shelves, nothing will work.

- It is necessary to raise prices on the shelves by about 5-10%, depending on the type of product. Because the cost of currency directly affects the cost of packaging material. In addition, there are the usual inflationary factors: wages costs, energy, and other expenses. Raising prices on the shelves is inevitable! - concluded Anatoly Losev.

Some market participants told The DairyNews that EkoNiva is gradually raising prices for raw materials by up to 5 rubles per liter.

- I can neither confirm nor deny, since we have a commercial secret under the contracts, but I have heard that EkoNiva increases the price of raw milk by 4-5 rubles. I think that this is due to the growth of costs and the desire to earn, - said Anatoly Losev.

We will remind that the Dairy Index DIA on November 9, 2020 was 28.38 rubles/kg (excluding VAT, fat and protein content - 3.6% and 3.0% respectively), which is 0.14% higher than last week and 7.3% higher than in November 2019. A key factor in the growth of the indicator was the increase in prices for raw milk in Russian regions according to the Index DIA app, the import price also increased due to the weakening of the ruble.

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