Russian firm develops novel milk-free yoghurt

02/01/2006 - A new milk-free yoghurt manufactured in St Petersburg is to be rolled out across some of the biggest cities in Russia, Europe and the US as the dairy alternatives market continues to shine.

The man behind the new product, to be sold under the Velle brand, is Serghey Vyhodtsev - ex-owner of Russia's biggest instant porridge maker, Bystrov, and inventor of instant soluble drink Invite.
He said a product similar to the Velle yoghurt had been made by locals in the Karelia region for around 300 years.

"We will inform you about the ingredients later, when the product will be sold," said Vyhodtsev, adding that the product's feature is that it unites yoghurt and oaten porridge properties, and it does not contain milk.

"The product does not have any analogues in the world, this is why the major part of the investments were spent on getting patents."

Vyhodtsev now has about 60 patents, and initial investments in the yoghurt have cost Velle around €10m. The producer, of the same name, plans to make 150 tonnes of the yoghurt per year.

The firm is a quarter-owned by Vyhodtsev and three-quarters owned by international firm CS&T, which specialises in processing grain crops.

The yoghurt will be sold in supermarkets and positioned in the premium segment. By the end of the furst quarter of 2006 the product will be available in Moscow, St Petersburg, Finland and Sweden, though there are plans to sell it in London and even in the US.

Velle already owns patents for manufacturing bio-oaten and a range of brands in 12 European countries: Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Netherlands, UK, France, Switzerland, Belgium, Austria, Luxemburg, Finland and Spain.

And the move to launch the yoghurt comes as dairy alternatives begin to flourish, particularly in Europe.

The value of Western Europe's soy milk market has more than doubled to €375m (£249.5m) between 1998 and 2004, according to Euromonitor statistics, although this remains a long way below the value of Western Europe's ‘normal' milk market - valued by Euromonitor at €19.7bn in 2004.

Some dairy companies have started to add soy to their dairy drinks and desserts in a move to beat competition from dairy alternatives by embracing them. Both Danone and General Mills' Yoplait brand now offer yoghurts with added soy.

Bron: cee-foodindustrie.com