Merging of dairy unions of Russia will be discussed in Moscow
Both organizations were established at different times to achieve similar goals: to represent and protect the position of milk producers and processors in the government, public and international organizations, lobbying their interests at the state level. Contrary to this, relations between the unions have deteriorated over time for various reasons.
The DairyNews asked the participants of the dairy market what they think about this and how they see the further development of the events.
The representative of one of the organizations, a part of Soyuzmoloko, said that the invitation to participate in the meeting was received, but no one is going to Moscow on this occasion.
- Soyuzmoloko and Dairy Union of Russia solve the same problems, so I do not see the need for two unions: it is necessary to work not on the number of organizations, but on their effective work. I support the creation of a single organization, but everything will depend on who will head the Association, what will be the Executive bodies, how they organize the work. No matter how the Union is called, and whoever would it combine, the most important thing is the presence of independent positions, the strategy to understand what the organization wants and what its tasks are.
This point of view was supported by a representative of one of the enterprises of the industry, who wished to remain anonymous. He added that merging of the two unions into one may contribute to the settlement of existing contradictions.
A similar position was presented to The DairyNews by the head of one of the regional dairy plants:
- I think merging is the right measure, because both unions have their advantages and strengths. There is a chance that they will complement each other and this will make the work more effective. The two unions were forced to compete on a number of important core competencies. Becoming one Association the unions eliminate competition.
Merging of the two industry organizations have repeatedly discussed in the past three years, said another market participant in conversation with the correspondent of the publication.
Reference:
The Russian Union of dairy enterprises (RSPMO) was established in December 1999 by the largest dairy and machine-building plants, agricultural enterprises and leading scientific institutions of the industry as a non-profit Association of milk producers, processors and operators of the dairy market. The key companies at the founding of the organization were Wimm-Bill-Dann (later merged into PepsiCo), Unimilk (merged into Danone) and Molvest.
According to information of RSPMO, the Union includes more than 100 organizations, bringing together more than 200 companies. Among them — "Voronezhskiy dairy factory", "Ostankinskiy dairy factory", the Moscow factory of processed cheeses "Carat", "ERHMANN", "CAMPINA" the Company "Hochland Russland", "DeLaval", Tetra Pak, the Scientific research Institute of dairy industry, the Scientific research Institute of butter-making and cheese-making, the Scientific research Institute of baby food, Vologodskaya dairy farming Academy named after Vereshchagin and others. On the basis of the Union there operate National and interstate technical committees for standardization TC 470/MTK 532 "Milk and dairy products", the Russian national Committee of the International Dairy Federation (FIL/IDF). The Dairy Union is a co-founder of the national Union of pedigree organizations.
The National Union of milk producers (Soyuzmoloko) is a public non-profit organization established in 2008 to represent and protect the interests of milk producers and processors in government bodies, public and international organizations.
The purpose of Soyuzmoloko according to the website of the organization is to create and provide cost-effective conditions for the production and processing of milk, promoting the improvement of quality and efficiency of the Russian dairy industry.
The structure of Soyuzmoloko, as it is noted in open sources, includes about 200 companies that produce 70% of milk and dairy products in Russia, as well as equipment, technologies and ready-made solutions for farms, feed, packaging materials and veterinary drugs for the industry.
It should be reminded that the key conflict between the two unions came to a new round in 2011. At the end of December 2011 Danone-Unimilk and Pepsico agreed to leave RSPMO. As commented then in the companies, they were not satisfied with the work of the Union to protect the interests of the industry.
During 2011, it was reported that Danone and PepsiCo are considering the possibility of participating in both unions, this was talked about by The DairyNews with the former head of the RSPMO Vladimir Labinov. Then a number of market participants reported that TNC offered to remove Labinov from the post of Executive Director of the Dairy Union of Russia. The inability to realize the interests of TNCs in technical regulation were also announced as possible reasons.
It is worth reminding that after the departure of Vladimir Labinov to the Ministry of agriculture of the Russian Federation (now he is the Head of the Ministry of agriculture of the Republic of Karelia), the Dairy Union of Russia was headed by Lyudmila Manitskaya. When Manitskaya came, the conflicts between Soyuzmoloko and RSPMO also had a number of key points, including the development period of the program of development of dairy farming.
The main cause of conflicts between industry associations continue to be issues of technical regulation, including the work of the Technical Committee 470 "Milk and dairy products".
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