Resource expands Russian chicken business
leading agribusiness in Southern Russia, announced more acquistions
to enhance its growing reputation as leading moderniser in Russia's
poultry sector.
Resource, which unites different agricultural companies in Russia's Southern Federal District, said it had bought a poultry complex alongside a broiler and several pedigree chicken farms in the Stavropol region, near the city of Nevinnomysk.
"The purchase of assets in the Stavropol region is part of the group's strategy to increase its market quota in the Southern Federal District as well as strengthen its positions on the Moscow and Central Federal District markets," said Resource spokesperson Oxana Kritikova.
She said that Resource made up half of southern Russia's chicken sales, according to the firm's figures at the start of November. Manufacturing volumes have also risen from 18,000 to 21,000 tonnes in the first nine months of this year.
The group has taken advantage of the fact that Russian authorities have declared large parts of Southern Russia bird flu-free territories, including Krasnodar, Stavropol and the Adygei Republic.
Resource's new acquisitions are in-keeping with the group's strategy of taking over and improving the fortunes of run-down farms and factories.
"We take active part in the poultry farming modernisation in the Southern Russia," said Victor Nauruzov, Resource chairman. "We purchase 70-80 per cent worn poultry farms, make serious investments in the infrastructure and we pay taxes to the local authorities."
"It is much more difficult to build from zero than to reconstruct by modernising, so we have the possibility of decreasing the products' prime cost, thus increasing their competitiveness."
Nauruzov added that since 2002, when Resource was born, the group had striven to become a leader in agricultural innovation and new technology.
Resource is currently working on a program to reconstruct its newly purchased facilities without interrupting production. The firm said modernisation meant installing new technology, including transferring to energy-saving techniques.
Priority will also be given to cooled products over frozen ones, indicating the group's take on market demand.
"Customers have already learned to appreciate the taste and quality of fresh Russian chicken, which is why cooled products have become mass-demanded products," said Serghey Belopashentsev, Resource's general director.
"Of course, consumption of quality and useful products is higher in the big cities. So, according to the Moscow Department of Food Resources, the capital has the highest index of meat consumption - 72kg/year per person.
"So far our share in this volume is rather small, because we have just started our work in the Central Federal district. But on the account of new manufacturing capacities in Stavropol, we can increase production of cooled products and supply 1,200 tonnes of fresh chicken meat monthly to Moscow."
Resource is a vertically-integrated company, including a range of activities from growing crops for mixed fodder up to the manufacture of cooled and frozen products. It is also one of the biggest employers in the Southern Russia, with around 3,000 workers.
The company makes more than 40 chicken products under the brand names Zolotaya Dolina and Nejnino.
