Russia has far fewer cows than expected

The reliability of Russian dairy statistics has long been questioned. That this doubt was well founded is shown by the fact that Russia has significantly reduced milk production in 2017.

Retroactively, Rosstat, the Russian statistical office, reduced milk supply over 2017 by 3% to 30,2 million tons. Whether this volume is correct remains to be seen. According to the Russian Federation of Dairy Farmers (RSPMO) Russia produced 'only' 17 million tons of raw milk in that year.

280.000 fewer cows
Rosstat explains the reduction in the fact that the number of dairy cows on the so-called 'backyard farms' is much lower than previously thought. The number of cows in this category has been corrected by 7,5% to 983.000.

The numbers in professional dairy farming have hardly been adjusted, if at all. On balance, the dairy herd was reduced by 2017% in 3,4 to 7,95 million. In exact numbers, this amounts to a decrease of 280.000 cows.

USDA estimate even lower
According to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), the size of Russia's livestock is lower than Rosstot claims. They estimate the livestock in 2017 at 6,7 million cows. 

Wouter Job

Wouter Baan is editor-in-chief of Boerenbusiness. He also focuses on dairy, pig and meat markets. He also follows (business) developments within agribusiness and interviews CEOs and policymakers.

w.baan@boerenbusiness. Nl

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