February 23, 2006

Russia's Exima to invest US$250 million in pork production

Russian meat producing group Exima is to invest US$250 million in pork farms in central Russia, the group announced Wednesday Feb 22.

Exima is beginning the construction of two pork farms in the Lipetsk region at a total cost of US$50 million in addition to upgrading the farm it runs in the Vladimir region and a new farm to be built for US$130 million in the Oryol region.

The two farms in Lipetsk will be commissioned in 2008 and will produce 23,000 tonnes of pork a year.

When all the projects are completed, Exima's own pork output will be sufficient to satisfy the entire pork requirement of Exima's Mikoyan meat factory in Moscow.

Russian pork business has become profitable after the government introduced annual import quotas in 2004 and extended them until 2009.