SKOPJE (Macedonia), July 9 (SeeNews) – Macedonian largest dairy company, IMB Mlekara Bitola, plans to increase its raw milk purchases in a bid to introduce new products and boost its exports, a senior company official said.
In May, the company bought record high 4.6 million litres of milk from local farmers, 25% up on the year, IMB managing board president Predrag Cvetkovic told SeeNews in a telephone interview.
IMB produces pasteurised and sterilized milk, sour cream, cheese, as well as fruit juices and nectars. The company, based in the southwestern city of Bitola, cooperates with approximately 1,700 local farmers.
Generally, the raw milk output of Macedonian farms is rather low, mainly because they have up to five cows on the average, Cvetkovic said, adding that raw milk prices in Macedonia are higher than in other countries in the region due to low milk yields and high production costs.
Macedonian farmers get less than 15 litres of milk per day from a cow, while in developed countries the yield is double that figure, he said.
Despite the odds, “IMB has a long-term and stable cooperation with farmers, which gives them security in their operations."
As part of its development strategy to raise raw milk purchases and improve the quality of its products, IMB plans to extend guarantees on bank loans that farmers take out for buying cows, Cvetkovic said.
Last year, the dairy invested approximately 600,000 euro ($762,318) in 200 new milk refrigerators for its farmers and will continue its investment operations, local media reported earlier.
According to Cvetkovic, the “milk industry crisis” in Macedonia, which has manifested itself in a fall in purchase prices for raw milk has been provoked by local producers of milk of poor quality.
“Premium quality milk accounts for 42% of total volumes purchased by IMB. The company is currently buying up all milk quantities on the market that meet the relevant strict microbiological and chemical standards,” he said.
IMB Mlekara Bitola has a daily capacity to process 200,000 litres of milk.
"The company plans to expand its business by penetrating new markets and to launch new products in the last quarter of this year," Cvetkovic said without disclosing details.
"In terms of developing its export strategy, IMB has detected a great potential in the Russian market and at the moment export efforts are made in this direction".
IMB exports its dairy products to Serbia, Kosovo, Croatia and, occasionally, to Greece. It exports its hard Italian pecorino cheese to the U.S., Australia and Canada.
In October 2007, Dutch-registered Danube Foods became the majority owner of IMB Mlekara, which also is the sole EU-certified dairy producer in Macedonia.
Danube Foods has invested 37 million euro in IMB as a result of the group’s positive assessment of IMB's huge production potential and the positive image that the company has built with its customers, Cvetkovic said.
In 2003, Danube Foods, jointly with its strategic partner, UK-based fund manager Salford, became a majority owner of five diaries in neighbouring Serbia: Imlek, Mlekara Subotica, Novosadska Mlekara, Impaz and Mlekara Zemun.
Macedonia had over 160,000 dairy cows in 2006 and an average annual yield of 2,497 litres of milk per cow, according to an EU-funded report on the competitiveness of Macedonian diary industry released last year.
Some 85 dairies operate in Macedonia, a country of two million people, but according to the EU standards only some 10% of them are medium or small-scaled. The remaining are micro farms with 1-3 cows, the report said.
Macedonia produces some 200 million litres of milk per year.
($=0.7879 euro)