FAS Moscow forecasts 2014 dairy cow inventories to decrease slightly by 0.6 percent to 8.45 million head due to increased slaughtering of less productive animals and late distribution of government subsidies to dairy producers. The reduction in cow inventories is expected to be compensated by higher per cow milk productivity due to better feed supply in 2014 compared to the previous year. As a result, fluid milk production is expected to remain relatively flat in 2014. Cheese production in 2014 is forecast to grow 1.2 percent due to better utilization of fluid milk while butter production is forecast to decrease 2.4 percent due to a shortage of raw materials. Non-fat dry milk (NFDM) and whole milk powder (WMP) production in 2014 are also forecast to remain flat following a similar trend as in 2013.
Imports of all dairy products are expected to grow in 2014 to support domestic consumption needs.Domestic milk production is off slightly in 2013 due to tight feed supplies which resulted in smaller feed rations for productive animals.
