Producing Parmesan on the level of quality like in Italy is hindered by funding problems, said Oleg Sirota, Chairman of the Cheese Union of Russia.

"The biggest problem of Parmesan production is that it is a long cycle that requires debugging, that's all. Sooner or later we will have cheeses that are not different from Parmesan, if that is the goal," NEWS.ru quoted him as saying.

Sirota also pointed to the country's shortage of quality milk for cheese making, and effective production requires "huge investments."

"For example, a storage facility similar to the Italian one costs about 500 million rubles. This is a very large investment and not many people are willing to go for it," he explained, adding that Russia does not have enough working capital. For example subsidized credit for milk for cheese may be obtained for a year maximum, while in fact the farmers pay it off within six months. At the same time it takes from one and a half to four years to age Parmesan. This, he says, makes the lengthy process (sourcing milk, building farms, etc.) uneconomical.

"This is hampered by the fact that very large investments are needed, and producers are not sure what will happen to the market if sanctions start to be lifted. Periodically the topic comes up about the lifting of sanctions on Italian cheese. Then a man who invested half a billion in a storage facility, a billion in a farm, all those investments will go to waste," Sirota said.

Made in Russia // Made in Russia

Author: Kseniya Gustova