Milk producers care about health of Russian people as well as about socially vulnerable groups of people

May 20, 2011- Moscow, Russia. Wimm-Bill-Dann Foods and the National Dairy Producers Union continue their cooperation by signing the market price monitoring agreement in the presence of the Russian Minister of Agriculture E. Skrynnik.

Wimm-Bill-Dann Foods supports the SOUZMOLOKO proposed average prices for raw milk for the year of 2011. According to experts the price for the 1st grade raw milk (3.4% fat content, 3.0% protein content) should be in the range of 12-16 rubles (excluding VAT) per kilogram. However the real base prices in different regions can slightly deviate from the mean in either direction depending on the seasonality of milk production and supply/demand balance in the region.

Wimm-Bill-Dann Foods also realizes it’s social responsibility in the sector therefore in order to protect the interests of the most vulnerable groups of population, Wimm-Bill-Dann plans to take measures aimed at stabilizing the prices for certain types of socially important dairy products, such as milk, kefir, sour cream in finpak package. The products will be identified in each region separately and the prices for them will be fixed.

“Mutual efforts of the government and businesses contribute to the increase in the investments attractiveness of the dairy industry, which in its turn increases the availability of qualitative dairy products for our people. The cooperation of dairy holdings has a positive impact on the market in general”. - said the Minister of Agriculture of Russia E.Skrynnik.

“Unfortunately in last decade the consumption of milk and dairy products in Russia was constantly decreasing. Over the last 20 years the consumption of dairy products (in milk equivalent) fell from 390 kg to 230 kg per person per year, which is below the level of health standards. The situation needs to be improved”. - said Chairman of the board of SOUZMOLOKO A.Danilenko.

“We believe that this cooperation will let the dairy producers and processors not only build mutually beneficial long term partnerships but will also eliminate in the future the seasonal price fluctuation for milk and dairy products. Our cooperation is the logical extension of the agreement signed in January 2011”. - said the general director of Wimm-Bill-Dann Foods S.Popovici.