October 24, 2008

Russia demands DDGS as poultry industry grows

According to Alex Kholopov of US Grains Council consultant in Russia, the livestock and poultry industries are growing rapidly in the country, due in large part to the government's decision to make agriculture a national priority.

Prior to the government's focus on agriculture, it was nearly impossible for livestock and poultry operators to borrow money for longer than a year, said Kholopov. Today, however, the government allows loans for up to 8 years with 0 percent interest.

He said that they are now seeing Russia's poultry industry grow 16-18 percent annually. It is the fastest growing agricultural industry in the country.

Leaders in Russia's poultry industry are now looking to US DDGS, a co-product of ethanol. Dmitry Lvovich, assistant to the general director of OGO Group, one of the top 3 companies in Russia involved in elevator capacity, livestock feed output and poultry production, is attending the Council's International Distillers Grains Conference (IDGC) in Indianapolis, Indiana, with the aim of finding the right supplier of DDGS to establish a long-term relationship.

At present, the livestock and poultry industries in Russia utilises 18 million tonnes of feed ingredients with 60-70 percent going into poultry rations. Kholopov said Russian poultry operators will likely include DDGS into rations at 7-8 percent initially.

Kholopov is anticipating an import of approximately 500,000 million tonnes of US DDGS for the Russian poultry industry within the next 2-3 years.