June 14, 2012

Italian company constructs pig farm in Belarus

Director General Viktar Tamashewski told reporters in Slutsk, Minsk region, on Tuesday (June 12) that an Italian company is constructing a hog farm for Slutsk Meat-packing Plant.

A total of EUR14.1 million (US$17.7 million) will be provided with the project by an Italian and a French bank, Tamashewski said. The project is expected to be completed in the spring of 2013 and have a payback period of 10 years, he said.

The farm will have 24,000 hogs and increase the supply of raw materials to Slutsk Meat-packing Plant by more than 30%. Facilities for converting farm waste into biogas and for drying grain and producing compound feed will later be built near the farm, Tamashewski said.

BYR12 billion (US$1.46 million) is expected to go toward the modernisation of Slutsk Meat-packing Plant this year, twice as much as in 2011, he said. The modernisation of a workshop that produces semi-finished goods has increased its output by 150%, he said.

Three agricultural companies have recently been reorganised to operate under the umbrella of Slutsk Meat-packing Plant, Tamashewski said. They have a total of 15,000 hectares of land, about 9,000 head of cattle and 21,500 head of hogs.