Wholesale Prices for Brined Cheeses Increased by 12.2%
Compared to August 2025, the cost of brined cheeses increased by 12.2%. This category includes brynza and feta, among others. The average wholesale price for soft cheeses was 523,820 rubles per ton, which is 7.6% lower than last year's level. Processed cheeses decreased in price by 4.3% to 416,300 rubles, semi-hard cheeses by 3.8% to 539,910 rubles, and hard cheeses by 3% to 505,700 rubles.
Brined cheeses account for about 5% of Russian cheese production. Andrey Kucherev, director of the competence center in the agricultural sector "Rexoft Consulting," stated that last year the production of this product remained almost unchanged. According to his assessment, demand increased after a reduction in purchases of cheese products made with vegetable fats: from January to July 2026, their production decreased by 22.2%.
Simultaneously, according to Kucherev, products based on cottage cheese increased in price by 4.9% year-on-year, sour cream by 2.6%, and fermented dairy products by 0.8%. Stanislav Bogdanov, chairman of the Association of Omnichannel Retail Companies, noted the stable demand for brined cheeses. According to him, they account for about 10% of the cheese assortment in retail chains; feta, suluguni, and Adyghe cheese are used in salads, pastries, and ready-made dishes.
In large retail, customers have access to several dozen cheese positions, with their number depending on the store's format. Analytical company NTech recorded a 5% increase in natural cheese sales in January-June 2026 compared to the same period last year. Sales of original cheeses increased by 5%, processed cheeses by 1%, semi-hard cheeses by 4%, and cottage cheese by 14%.
The decrease in prices for a number of categories is associated with an oversupply, experts say. "Rexoft Consulting" calculated that the production of semi-hard cheeses increased by almost 12% in 2025. By early April 2026, processors' stocks of such products were 21% higher than the previous year, so producers are selling some stocks with discounts.
The Russian market also houses Belarusian products: Belarus accounts for 92% of cheese and cottage cheese imports. Kucherev pointed out that Belarusian cheeses compete with Russian ones due to lower prices, while local companies face increased costs. By early October, there were about 28,060 companies in Russia engaged in dairy cattle breeding and raw milk production; the number of such companies decreased by 3.6% over the year.
In August, the average producer prices for butter decreased by 14.5% year-on-year, for cream by 9%, for powdered milk by almost 7%, and for drinking milk and cottage cheese by 3.1%. In July, agricultural organizations produced 12.9 million tons of milk, which is 2.2% more than the previous year's figure. According to Kucherev, growth was ensured by increased animal productivity since the cattle population is declining in 2026.
