MOSCOW, January 22. /TASS/. Russia’s exports of dairy products increased by 18% in 2023 compared with the previous year, director general of the National Union of Dairy Producers (Soyuzmoloko) Artyom Belov said.

"The growth of consumption and export has been turning into a serious driver of the domestic market in recent several years, particularly in 2023. According to our estimations, consumption rose by around 5% last year, while exports grew by 18%," he told a forum.

"The fact that we started exporting goods demanded on the global market, exchange commodities, is a very important trend. For example, supplies of powdered skim milk climbed almost five-fold, while powdered whey - almost three-fold," Belov added.

Russian dairy products are supplied to around 60 countries, with almost three quarters of local enterprises exporting their production, director of the Russian Agriculture Ministry’s department Vladimir Skvortsov said.

"Russia traditionally supplies (dairy products - TASS) to CIS and post-Soviet countries, though last year we actively entered the international market, for example, Algeria, which is the world’s second-biggest consumer of this production," Skvortsov said.