Russia Imports More Butter From Azerbaijan, Uruguay and Argentina

Russia’s supply chains are showing signs of adapting far more quickly than in the past, with one example being butter imports from Azerbaijan, Uruguay and Argentina this year, which have all increased, according to Russia’s Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance (Rosselkhoznadzor).

Azerbaijan delivered 940 tonnes of butter, four times the amount it did a year ago (240 tonnes), Uruguay, 649 tonnes (versus 150 tonnes in January 2024), and Argentina, 200 tonnes (just 50 tonnes in the same period last year), Rosselkhoznadzor said, citing data from its national electronic veterinary information system VetIS.

This was at the expense of Belarusian butter imports, which almost halved from 10,200 tonnes in January 2024 to 5,600 tonnes in January 2025.

Russia imposed a 25,000-tonne total quota on duty-free import of butter from December 23, 2024 until June 15, 2025 after butter prices rose sharply last year.

The implications are that Russia’s import of consumer products, as well as consumer demand and pricing trends have become exceptionally well monitored by Russian state organisation. This has developed partially in response to sanctions but, and perhaps more importantly, to ensure price security within Russia’s own imported food supply chains.

Concerning the suppliers, Azerbaijan is a member of the Commonwealth of Independent States, Uruguay will probably join BRICS this year, while an interesting outlier is Argentina, who declined to join BRICS after elections saw a pro-US President, Javier Gerardo Milei take office in 2023. However, Argentina has declined to participate in sanctions against Russia. Argentina-Russia bilateral trade stood at about US$1.5 billion in 2024.

The top 5 global exporters of butter are the Netherlands, New Zealand, Ireland, Belgium and Germany, who collectively, export over two-thirds (68.9%) of the world’s exported butter. However, sanctions have destroyed these supply chains with Russia looking to augment its own production with imports from other suppliers. Latin American butter exports are typically about 1% of the global total although that will now have increased due to the new trade routes with Russia – at Europe’s expense.