October 26, 2009
Russia's Miratorg to invest US$500 million in cattle breeding
Miratorg Company, one of Russia's largest meat producers and importers, plans to invest over US$500 million in the country's cattle breeding project.
The investment will help to increase Russian beef cattle stock by more than 100,000 heads per year.
The current level of Russian beef production is very low, and the company wants to occupy this market niche, said company sources.
The future breeding herd will consist of 100,000 heads and Miratorg plans to import 75,000 heads throughout 2010-13.
Miratorg president Viktor Linnik said they are looking for livestock suppliers and had held talks with some companies from Australia, the US, Canada and Europe.
Under the new project, Miratorg will build a new state-of-the-art slaughter with a capacity of 50,000 tonnes of meat in carcass weight per year. The project will be financed through the company's own funds as well as bank loans.
Analysts said while Russia's pork and poultry production are growing 15-18 percent, beef output is steadily declining by three to four percent annually.
