27 Jan 2010 --- Wimm-Bill-Dann (WBD), Russia's largest dairy company, said its sales and earnings figures for 2009 had been hit by an acute shortage of raw milk that forced it to restrict production.

WBD now expects earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) for 2009 to be in the range $300-$310 million, compared with $361 million in 2008, the company said in a statement.

WBD reported that the fourth quarter of 2009 was a difficult period for the entire Russian dairy industry due to an acute shortage of raw milk caused by both a seasonal decline in production and an unforeseen shortage of dry milk. “Under these circumstances Wimm-Bill-Dann was forced to restrict the production of some of its dairy products, in particular during the latter part of the fourth quarter. These changes in production output resulted in lower than expected dairy sales in the quarter”, the company said in a statement. In addition, the increase in raw milk prices caused by a shortage of supplies had a negative short-term effect on the company’s dairy margins. “Accordingly we expect our EBITDA for the full year to be in the range of US$300-310 million”, the statement concluded.