The share of Russian cheeses in the country's stores in 2016 reached 75%, Agriculture Minister Alexander Tkachev said on February 6, Vedomosti daily reported.
Russian producers have successfully replaced foreign cheeses with home-made varieties and Russian cheese will continue to increase its market share, according to the minister.
"Cheese used to be imported, but now it is dominated by Russian producers. We [Russian cheesemakers] registered the 10 largest producers, and, of course, I expect that our share will grow to 90%," Tkachev said, adding that Russia will "rearm" the dairy sector in the next five to seven years following the example of Belarus.
"We have great respect for our colleagues from Belarus. They taught us a master class. We should follow this lead in the next five to seven years and move in the same direction. Therefore, the task is to rearm our [dairy] production," the paper quoted Tkachev as saying.
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