According to the assessment of the National Patronal Association of Milk and Dairy Products Producers Lapte, over the last ten years in Moldova the production of fermented dairy (fermented) products decreased by about 12% – from 30 thousand tons to 27 thousand tons. This group includes a wide range of yogurts, kefir, ryazhenka and other products mainly with short shelf life, which are sold exclusively on the domestic market. In addition, this group consists of low and medium price category goods oriented to mass consumers. A relatively small reduction in their production (against the background of their intensive import), probably, indicates a rather stable preference of the Moldovan population for local products.
Cheese production in Moldova has been stagnating for a decade in the range of 2.4-2.9 thousand tons. During this period, the country has almost completely lost its ability to export cheese to CIS countries. At the same time, imports of cheese, mostly of Ukrainian and Belarusian production, to the Moldovan market more than doubled over the decade – up to 9.4 thousand tons.
The production of drinking milk in Moldova decreased by dozens of percent during this period. This is probably due to the fact that a significant part of consumers reoriented to the consumption of sour-milk products – healthier and easily digestible.
