December 3, 2009

TonniesFleisch plans for further expansion in Russia

In the Voronezh region of Russia, German TonniesFleisch, the second-largest producer of chilled meat in Europe, is still considering the possibility of investing more than $600 millions in the construction of its giant pork processing complex.

According to Russian media quoting the head of TonniesFleisch, Clemens Tonnies the production capacity of the new plant may exceed 3 millions of heads per year.

"The total capacity of our pig farms in the Voronezh region will exceed 3 million hogs per year and there is also a forage base that will be established. As soon as we come closer to the production of 2 million hogs per year, it will be possible to talk about the construction of a processing enterprise in the region with a cost of 400 million euros," said Tennies.

The preliminary investment agreement between the parties was reached in April 2009 however there were some delays in the realization of the project due to the recession.

It is expected that most of the funds will be provided by some leading Russian banks including the Savings Bank however there has been no official confirmation. TonniesFleisch have already had some projects in Russia.

Currently the company is continuing to develop a large piggery in the Belgorod region with the capacity to process 30,000-33,000 tons of pork meat in live weight.