July 20, 2015

Cherkizovo to invest US$340 Million in pork production

Cherkizovo Group has received a 14.4 billion ruble (US$250 million) loan from state lender Sberbank to increase its pig-raising capacity by 70%, Sberbank said in a statement.

The total cost of the pork production chain is expected to reach 19.2 billion rubles (US$340 million). The new facilities will enable Cherkizovo to increase its pig-raising capacity to 330,000 tonnes per year and its total meat production to more than one million tonnes per year.

The investment marks Cherkizovo's latest move to expand its share of the Russian market following the extended embargo on Western meat products in June.

The company has already begun construction of a swine-breeding facility in the Voronezh region, south of Moscow. It will soon be followed by a compound feed mill with a capacity of 500,000 tonnes per year, also in the Voronezh region, and a slaughterhouse in the neighbouring Lipetsk region.

Cherkizovo, one of Russia's publicly traded agricultural companies, has seen its poultry sales rise 20% year-on-year in Q1 2015, while sales at its meat processing division jumped 28%, according to a company report.