Israeli dairy processor Tnuva is looking at the possibilities of exporting cheese to Russia, with a hope to fill in the gap created due to the one-year ban on food imports from Europe and the US.
In 2013, Russia imported 250,000 tons of cheese from EU in addition to imports in smaller quantities from US, Norway and Australia.
Russia has imposed a one-year ban on the import of beef, port, cheese and vegetable products from the European Union, US, Australia, Canada and Norway.
Owing to the ban on imports from the EU and the US, Australia, Canada and Norway, the Israeli firm expects to explore the potential offered by the Russian dairy market.
According to report by Globes, senior executives recently visited Russia. Following initial market analysis by senior executives, Tnuva is mulling to to sell hard cheese directly to the market chains or through a local distributor in Russia.
Tnuva has been primarily focusing only on the domestic market. It has been exporting in the kosher Jewish market in the US for several years now. It is presently carrying out a pilot project for the manufacture of cottage cheese to cater to the North American market.
At its Tel Yosef dairy, Tnuva primarily manufactures hard yellow cheese. The company invested ILS 240m (US$ 63.2) in its dairy expansion venture.
