Dairy animals are decreasing drastically, the processing of imported raw materials is growing by over 12%

In 2024, the total milk production in the country amounted to 770,520 thousand liters, 2.7% less compared to the previous year, according to statistics from the Ministry of Agriculture and Food (MAF). A decrease was observed in all types of milk, more significant in buffalo (-5.6%) and sheep (-4.2%) and less so in cow (-2.6%) and goat (-0.8%) milk. The reason for the reduced production of milk raw material is the ongoing trend of reducing the number of dairy animals throughout the year, which is partially offset by their slightly higher average milk yield, analysts explain. By the end of 2024, the number of dairy cows was 6.5% below the level of the previous year, and that of buffaloes - by 4.5%. For dairy sheep and goat mothers, the decline reached 9.6% and 12%, respectively. In just two years, dairy cows have decreased by over 20 thousand heads, dairy sheep by nearly 110 thousand animals, and dairy goats by over 28,500 heads. Similar to previous years, the reduction in animals ...