Minister of Agriculture of Estonia Mr. Helir-Valdor Seeder met Minister of Agriculture of Latvia Mrs. Laimdota Straujuma at Estonian Dairy Museum to introduce her “Estonian Dairy Strategy 2012-2020”. According to Mr. Seeder dairy production is one of most important agricultural sectors for Estonia as well for Latvia, now following EU financial period opens new frontiers to develop the sector.
The new strategy aims to increase both milk production and high quality dairy products. “It is important to value milk to export yoghurts, ice cream, soured milk products and cheese,” minister Seeder said. The production of milk was 695.000 tons at 2011 the production has been approximately the same since 2009. 8,4% of whole export consists of exports of agricultural products, the share of dairy products was 17% of exports of agricultural products. Major target countries of exports were Russia, Finland, Germany, Latvia and Lithuania.