OREANDA-NEWS. April 21, 2010. The Estonian Tere dairy company is taking a hundred tons of fresh products to stores in St. Petersburg and Moscow every month and the whole Estonian food industry export to Russia is increasing.

Tere board chairman Taavi Toots said that yoghurt, sour cream and curd cream had been marketed in St. Petersburg during the past half a year. Tere's sales have doubled every month and in March the amount of that type of products sold crossed the one hundred tons line.

Toots told the paper that in St. Petersburg their goods were on sale in about a hundred stores and in Moscow in about 50 stores.

"Our sales in this century haven't been as good this millennium yet as they were in March," Toots said.

Due to customs duties and transport costs the price level of Tere's products is higher than in Estonia but the company's margin is better.

Toots said that during the past year Tere had increased its export by two and a half times. Also Finland, Latvia and Lithuania are important export countries.

Valdis Noppel, CEO of Tere's competitor, Maag, said that Russian officials had just finished certification of its output. The company is hoping to send its fresh dairy products to Russia in the fall if the neighboring country's output can no longer keep up with demand.

Valio's Laeva dairy company sells yoghurt and curds to Russia. The Finnish company has a Russian representation that mediates sales of producers made in Estonia. The main article is cheese made at the Voru facility.

According to Statistics Estonia food industry export to Russia increased in nearly all areas. The export volume of dairy products was 330 million kroons (EUR 21 mln), more than one quarter higher than the year before last. Cheese made up two thirds of the Estonian dairy products' export and also fresh dairy products are once again sold to Russia.