February 19, 2010

Cherkizovo to increase poultry production by 40%

Russian meat producer Cherkizovo is to double production at its Penza poultry cluster, upping its poultry output by 40% in 2012.

The first phase of the Penza project was successfully completed in 2009 with the reconstruction of the Vertunovka site, which is now one of Europe's largest parent stock facilities, with a production capability of 60 million incubatory eggs per year.

Under phase two, Cherkizovo will construct new facilities at the Vasilievskaya poultry factory. These include an incubation facility for 105 million eggs per year; around 100 bird houses at both the existing and new sites of the Vasilievskaya factory and state-of-the-art slaughtering facilities with an hourly capacity of up to 8,000 heads.

The project is funded through RUB1.1 billion (US$36.5 million) of support from Sberbank of Russia.

This second phase is expected to be complete by the end of 2011, raising the current annual capacity of the factory from 60,000 tonnes to 120,000 tonnes of live weight poultry meat.

Cherkizovo has also started a large-scale project at its Bryansk poultry cluster last year, where capacity is projected to almost double to 63,500 tonnes of live weight poultry meat per year.

The combined impact of both projects will increase the total poultry production of the group by 40% in 2012.