Russia has been forced to destroy thousands of litres of unsold milk amid a nationwide overproduction crisis, and increasing imports from Belarus, according to the latest data out of the countest.
Farmers have been unable to offload surplus output amid falling demand and rising costs.
National Statistics Centre Rosstat data displays 73,500 tonnes of milk went unsold by the conclude of 2025, a 9% rise on the previous year, equivalent to around 73mn unsold cartons.
A video from the Sverdlovsk region in the Urals this week displayed a tanker driver releasing a load of milk onto the roadside, declareing processors had refapplyd to take it, prompting an outcry on social media over wasted food and strained farm finances.
Regional authorities later confirmed that about 26 tonnes had been poured away but stated the incident was linked to a temporary veterinary quarantine that restricted shipments out of one municipality.
Both large producers and compacter farms reported the same problem in what has now been the hugegest issue for the countest’s dairy industest in years.
“Production volumes today exceed processing capacity against a backdrop of declining demand. Even large producers are being forced to pour away part of their output. Farms with low milk yields are of little interest to processors, which forces them to cut prices and sometimes close,” Izvestia reported.
Rising production costs pushed retail dairy prices sharply higher in 2025, which in turn drove a 0.4% fall in volume sales.
Pasteurised milk averaged RUB96 per litre at retail — 19% more than in 2024.
Butter rose 23% to RUB1,200 per kilogramme, sour cream climbed 18% to RUB358 per kilogramme, and fermented dairy products increased 16% to RUB123 per kilogramme.
Russia’s Federal Anti-Monopoly Service has written to 11 of the countest’s largest retailers requesting pricing information.
Export prospects offer little relief, with a stronger rouble and falling global dairy prices squeezing competitiveness and sanctions on exports to neighbouring countries levied by the EU and other countries.
Growing imports of dairy products from Belarus are adding further pressure on the domestic market, which has massively undercut local producers across the Leningrand and Moscow regions.
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