Russian feed industry encounters wave of investments

By Philippe Caldier

The Kombikorma exhibition is a growing fair, and each year becomes more popular with the actors in the Russian feed industry attracted by the booming market. Taking place in Hall 57 of the All Exhibition Centre of Moscow, the fair welcomed 285 exhibitors from 22 countries at this edition. The 2010 show has been marked by fewer large stands compared to the past, and more Russian companies, of which some are major regional feed producers.

The 2009 financial crisis has hit the Russian market (GDP dropped by 7%), but optimism is back in a country where all forecasted projects were postponed and not cancelled. From 2005 to 2008, the wave of investments in the Russian agriculture market has been enormous with a huge increase in production capacities for livestock (Table 1).

Feed production statistics are impressive too, with for example an increase of more than 30% in feed production in the Southern Krasnodar region in 2008 (Table 2). Poultry and pigs are the winners regarding Russian investments. According to V.M. Kojebnikov, Editor of pig magazine Svinovodstvo, pig production has increased by 480,000 tonnes (+32%) between 2006 and 2008, and the number of pigs by 1.1 million (+7%). In 2009, pig production increased 9% and the number of pigs by 5%. “We actually have 130 major pig projects in the country of 200 billion roubles (approx. €4.9 billion) of investments with the support of the national program of development of Russian livestock,” said Kojebnikov in the Jan/Feb 2010 edition of Svinovodstvo. All these projects will bring 1.5 million tonnes of pig meat (live weight) extra. In 2010, Russian poultry production is expected to grow by 300,000 tonnes and, according to Tigran Papazyan, director of Alltech in Moscow, Russia will be soon self-sufficient in poultry meat and is even able to become a net exporter in the short term.In 2010, the Russian crisis seems over. “Three trillion roubles (€73.6 billion) was injected into the economy in 2009 to restore it,” reported the daily newspaper Kommersant in February. “Growth should come back in 2010 at around 1.5%,” estimates the French Embassy in Moscow.

New feed plant for 2010
Present on the Russian market for 10 years, the holding TexKorm distributes three brands: Hendrix Feed (complete feeds and concentrates for pigs, cattle and poultry), Trouw Nutrition (premix, concentrates and additives for all species) and Skretting (fish feed). “After a 30% growth of our sales per year since 2006, our turnover slowed down in 2009 due to the crisis. Our dairy clients, in particular, suffered,” says Anna Zhuraleva, marketing manager of TexKorm. Pig and poultry units are the first clients of TexKorm and the company is actively developing a fish segment. “After trout and sturgeon, we started to sell salmon feed and we are about to sell carp feed in 2010,” Zhuraleva adds. From 2,500 tonnes in 2009, fish feed imports could double in 2010. Zhuraleva explains that the priorities for this year are to produce more feed locally with sub-contractors, and to build a feed and concentrate plant somewhere in Russia.

Premix market not saturated
Based in Kaliningrad, Celtic Rus has been active in animal nutrition for more than seven years. The Kaliningrad plant produces 900 t/month of premix for 0.5 to 5% inclusion and makes 1,500 t/month of concentrates mainly for pigs and poultry, but also for cattle. Belonging to Provimi since 2005, Celtic Rus modernised its premix line from October 2008 to February 2009. “Although our major clients are in Kaliningrad, we also have an office in Moscow,” says Lev Novikov, the general director of the company who estimates that sales growth in 2010 should follow the natural growth of the market, being a little less than 10%. “We will focus on layers and broilers as these markets are still growing in Russia,” Novikov says, adding that pig production also represents high development potential. According to Celtic Rus’ general director, the premix market is far from saturated in Russia, with an actual estimated annual demand of around 200,000 tonnes. “We plan to build a premix plant, but after 2010,” Novikov says. He even thinks the Russian feed market could double in the future.

Confidence never disappeared
Arisen from a merger between German company H. Wolking Mühlen- und Maschinenbau (specialised in turnkey feed plant building) and well-known equipment builder Big Dutchman, BDW Feedmill systems is active all over Russia building farming units as well as feed plants. “We work from small to very large projects and we even executed projects during the crisis,” says Bo Molin, director of the company. Its bigger projects are a 9,600 sow unit completed two years ago, and a 150,000 tonnes per year feed plant in Belgorod region in 2009. “We actually work on several projects of 350,000 tonnes of feed per year,” adds Molin, who believes that confidence in the market had never disappeared in Russia.French Nutristar International started its first premix imports into Russia in 2001. “Our clients are feed plants or large-scale poultry and dairy units,” says its Moscow director Arnaud Sigwald. “Clients did not disappear with the crisis, but it’s harder to get them to pay,” adds Sergei Simonov from Sivetra-Agro, Nutristar’s distributor in Russia. What priority has the company in 2010? Sigwald: “To keep the existing clients and propose new products, such as feed additives, for example Nucléor, a compacted premix with large particles size for mash feed for laying hens.”

Euroduna: Import Russian by-products
The German trading company Euroduna, specialised in ingredients for the feed industry, exhibited at Kombikorma for the first time. For chairman Jan Dubbeldam, this first presence is a “trial to make contacts in a booming market”. The company sells various products, such as vegetable or animal proteins, amino acids, L-lysine, L-Threonine, starch, glucose, yeast based products, etc. The original venture of Euroduna is to import natural specialty or by-products, such as soy cake, from Russia to Western Europe. “We are in contact with politicians and ministries of agriculture of some Russian regions,” adds Dubbeldam, who believes the regional distribution of crops may change in the future throughout Russia due to the global warming.
  Leading German feed cooperative Agravis owns eight offices in Russia plus an office in Minsk (Belorussia) and new offices since 2009 in Kiev (Ukraine) and Astana (Kazakhstan). The company imports Germany premixes, concentrates and soy cakes. Its Russian turnover dropped 30% in 2009 due to the crisis. “In the second part of 2010 we will launch a new feed plant located between Krasnodar and Stavropol in the South of Russia,” says director Konrad Falk. The new plant will have an annual capacity of 100,000 tonnes (mainly for pigs and poultry) and represents an investment of €11 million. A premix line with annual capacity of 15,000 tonnes will be added by 2011. “The crisis has cleaned the market,” says Falk. He thinks the Russian feed market will receive a boost this year as a result of the drop in poultry meat imports.

Koudijs Mkorma: purchase of Neokorm
Since 1995, Mkorma is the Russian distributor for Dutch feed maker De Heus under the brand name Koudijs. “Mkorma became a daughter company of De Heus a year ago,” says Mikhail Shkatov, pig specialist at Mkorma. Since 1997, the company has been working in partnership with Neokorm to produce its premix, a company located in the oblast of Vladimir, 150 km east of Moscow. With an annual capacity of 17,000 tonnes of premix, this plant was bought by De Heus and Mkorma in April 2009. De Heus’ target is to increase production capacity of this plant in order to increase market share in 2010.Ten days before the opening of the Kombikorma fair, Dutch company DSM Nutritional Products signed a joint-venture agreement with Tatenergo JSC, a partner from Tatarstan, to build its first premix unit. It is expected that this plant will begin production in 2011, and will produce 10,000 tonnes of premixes per year for all species. A second plant is also forecast to follow shortly after. Alexander Tenyaev, who is in charge of the company for Russia, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, was asked why this investment was made. “To supply a growing demand and to avoid growing administrative concerns with imports,” he said. “We have been almost left untouched by the crisis,” he adds with a smile. Sales increased by 20% in 2009, and it is expected that further growth, between 10 and 20%, will be seen in 2010.

Source: AllAboutFeed vol 1 nr 2, 2010