Russian milk producers have stockpiled up on veterinary medications in anticipation of a supply interruption caused by a recently implemented law.
The new rule went into effect on September 1st. Some products are in low supply, and a true scarcity seems to be imminent in the long term. To provide veterinary medications and vaccines to Russian clients, international vendors must get a GMP certificate from the Russian veterinary authority Rosselhoznadzor.
The Russian organization of veterinary pharmaceutical businesses, Avfarm, warned in July that the nation should prepare itself for a shortage as a result of the rule. According to the organization, the Russian regulator has not devised a standardized approach for passing a GMP inspection.
Russia is heavily reliant on imported veterinary medications, with Rosselhoznadzor claiming that foreign vaccinations account for 71% of the Russian cattle sector.
According to Semyon Zhavoronkov, executive director of Avfarm, just 37 out of 180 international suppliers had gotten the GMP certificate as of November, and 24 more were awaiting an examination.
According to Zhavoronkov, practically all veterinary medications on the Russian market now are stocks established before the present restrictions were implemented.
According to Nikolay Bespalov, director of RNS Pharma, a Moscow-based think tank, all companies knew that the conditions for access to the Russian market for veterinary drugs would change in September, and they tried to create a reserve of products so that they could go through the transition period relatively painlessly.
Certain veterinary medications are kept on hand by dairy companies. They may either gradually transition to Russian counterparts or wait for international suppliers to gain GMP certification, which they have not yet been able to achieve, according to Artem Belov, general director of the Russian Union of Dairy Producers Soyzmoloko.
On the other hand, it is unclear what will happen when the dairy industry’s stockpile of veterinary drugs depletes in the coming months.
“You cannot so abruptly close the market for truly in-demand drugs and expect that consumers will suddenly discover truly competitive alternatives that for some reason they had not noticed before,” he added.
According to the press office of Cherkizovo company, a significant Russian food manufacturer, there is a lack of imported vaccinations on the market, and a shortage of imported antibiotics, coccidiostats, and other medications is predicted in the medium term. The business noted that the supply of imported pharmaceuticals has declined and will continue to shrink as leftovers are used up and cannot be supplied.
