“The Cheese Issue”: An Attempt at an Objective Quantitative Analysis in the Regional Perspective

Milk and dairy products are traditional components of Russian diet. In difficult economic conditions, dairy import tends to decrease, and the national dairy industry tries to compensate for it. Today, the cheese consumption in Russia is below the rational standard, which makes it necessary to boost the domestic cheese production. The authors studied the cheese segment of the domestic dairy industry to analyze the possibilities of increasing cheese production. The research relied on the leadership criteria and the main industrial indicators in the regions, e.g., raw materials and production infrastructure, which were subjected to statistical and mathematical processing. The data were systematized by a set of indicators with precalculated statistical characteristics, which made it possible to rank the national cheese leaders. The organic index of cheese products was measured based on the protocol proposed by the authors. The correlation analysis revealed the links between the gross cheese production in the regions and their raw material supply. The Russian Federation produces more than 900,000 tons of cheese and cheese products and imports 300,000 tons. The current per capita consumption of cheese is 6.5 kg per year, but domestic companies provide only 4.2 kg, i.e., 60% of the rational consumption rate. The list of the cheese leaders includes 38 regions, 20 of which provide more than 78% of the total national production, with the Altai Region leading the way. However, some of these cheese-making regions are currently experiencing an acute shortage of dairy raw materials, while some milk-producing regions have a poor processing infrastructure that cannot support cheese production. The national dairy industry has not enough raw materials as a result of a long-term dairy cattle decrease over the past two decades. A sustainable raw material base for cheese making needs 1.2 million more cows to increase the gross milk production by 9.8 million tons (29.6% of the data for 2022). “The cheese issue” can be resolved by increasing the population of pedigree dairy cattle and encouraging farmers to start cheese dairy businesses. Both measures require strong federal and regional support.