Economic indicators of production of semi-hard and hard cheeses in small capacity dairies in Serbia

Animal husbandry has a longstanding tradition in Serbia, and the production of milk and dairy products has a rich legacy. Cow?s milk is used in the manufacture of all kinds of dairy products. Annual global cheese production is about 20 million tons, with cattle milk cheeses produced in large-scale processing plants constituting about 80% of that production. In Serbia, leaders of milk production are small family dairy farms, which contribute 92% of total production, while dairies with large capacity dominate in milk processing. There are 211 milk processing plants of varying capacities in Serbia. The largest amounts of milk are processed by dairy plants 'Imlek' and 'Subotica', while 188 small-scale dairies process 20% of total milk. The subject of this paper is the analysis of the economic indicators of production of semi-hard and hard cheeses in small-capacity dairies in Serbia. To determine the level and structure of production costs of dairy products, the analytical calculation method of per unit processing costs has been used. The study has revealed that the cost price of semi-hard and hard cheeses in small-capacity dairies amounts to 3.33 ?/kg. With 90.83% in the structure of total costs of processing the milk into cheese, the cost of raw materials has the largest share, followed by labor costs with 6.54%. For small-capacity dairies to be able to compete with larger dairies, both in product quality and price, it is crucial to continuously monitor and minimize production costs.