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For independent feed mills, their key customers are small and medium-sized farms.

 

Self-sufficiency in feed production is a very important aspect of investment projects in meat and milk production in the country, as it is one criterion for the company to get softer loan terms.

 

 

Miratorg, in recent years, has remained the largest manufacturer of compound feed in the country with an annual production volume of 1.46 million tonnes. The company has four feed mills in Belgorod and Bryansk Oblast of Russia, mostly specialising in the production of feed for pigs. A small part of the company's production goes to the open market. Miratorg currently implements large beef projects, which should have limited demand for compound feed, due to the pastoral way of feeding, but some poultry projects may boost the demand for feed of the company by 25% within the coming four years.

 

 

Cherkizovo produces 1.4 million tonnes of feed annually at six feed mills in various regions of the European part of Russia. The company's meat business is more diversified than Miratorg's, with eight poultry farms and 15 pig farms, producing equal amounts of feed for pigs and poultry. The company recently announced the completion of its largest project for the production of pork in the Voronezh Oblast with a feed mill with a designed capacity of 500,000 tonnes by 2021. Cherkizovo may also launch some other projects which will involve the construction of compound feed production facilities.

 

 

Prioskolie Company, the country's largest poultry processor, produces about 1.3 million tonnes of compound feed. The company has all its feed mills based in the Black Earth region of the country. In the Belgorod Oblast the company has a project for the production of feed lysine with the capacity of 50,000 tonnes per year. Among the top Russian feed millers, Miratorg is the only company which uses the same practice, operating the production line with feed enriched with amino acids, while other companies so far have not placed a lot of emphsis on amino acid production.

 

 

In terms of feed production capacity, there is quite a huge gap between Belgorod-based BAZRK-Belgrancorm and the top three largest feed millers, with the former producing almost two times less feed – only about 670,000 tonnes per year. Part of the feed crops for its feed mills is cultivated in the territory of the Poltava Oblast of Ukraine. The company has several pig and poultry farms in the Belgorod and Novgorod Oblasts of the country, and meat processing units in Russia and Ukraine. In recent years the company is working on increasing its area for crop planting, as it is actively developing its oil production division.

 

 

Uralbroiler is the largest poultry processor in the Ural Federal District with annual production volume of 581,000 tonnes. The company has nearly doubled its production capacity with the launch of a second feed mill in the Chelyabinsk Oblast of the country. As it follows from its name, the company specialises in broiler farming. Representatives of the company do not exclude the possibility of future increases in production capacities as it actively participates in the import replacement initiative of Russia's poultry market, and particularly when this part of the country is still lacking in meat production capacity.

 

 

RusAgro produced about 540,000 tonnes of compound feed, primarily for pigs, which is the main area of interest for the company. The company has strong potential in terms of increasing production capacity as it is currently implementing the largest project for the construction of a dozen pig farms in the Far East part of Russia with an overall investment of US$200 million. This will require the construction of a feed mill with a capacity of about 400,000 tonnes. Construction will commence this year, and after the commissioning of the facility, RusAgro is poised to become the largest producer of feed in the Far East part of Russia and the country's largest producer of feed from soybean.

 

 

Agro-Belogorie has two feed mills in the Belgorod Oblast with an annual production capacity of about 500,000 tonnes. The company is planning to invest up to US$150 million to increase production capacity of its meat division by a third. This project, according to estimations by Russian experts, will require the construction of a third feed mill with a volume of production not lower than 250,000 tonnes per year. The project should be implemented by 2018, according to representatives of the company.

 

 

Last year, Eurodon launched a feed mill with a capacity of 300,000 tonnes per year in the Millerovo district of the Rostov Oblast of Russia. The company specialises in the production of turkey and duck meat, and is largest producer of this type of poultry meat in the Post-Soviet states, and it also turns out to be largest producer of feed for these species. There were some speculations about the construction of a second feed mill with a similar production capacity in the neighbouring district of the Rostov Oblast, but so far there is no confirmation about this project. The company will receive US$150 million of state subsidies for business development from 2016 to 2020, so there should certainly be some growth of production in both its poultry and feed segments.

 

 

Belaya Ptitza has a capacity of 240,000 tonnes with only one feed mill in the Belgorod Oblast. The company plans to more than double this figure by 2018 with the construction of a similar feed mill in the Kursk Oblast. The company is currently acquiring another Russian poultry processor Optifood which went bankrupt two years ago. Belaya Ptitza has eight poultry farms and may get four poultry farms from this deal, meaning that its feed demand should rise significantly. An increase of feed production capacity was also one of the conditions for the deal from Russian authorities. For Optifood, it was suggested that the lack of its own feed base was one of the main reasons for its bankruptcy.

 

 

Gatchinsky feed mill seems to be largest independent feed producer in the country. It is located in the Leningrad Oblast and produces about 212,000 tonnes of feed for poultry, pigs and cattle annually. It was suggested that the feed mill has avoided integration into the structure of one of the Russian agricultural holdings due to its geographical location – most of the meat producers are located further south. Generally speaking, the North-West Federal District of Russia which includes the Leningrad Oblast has a lot of medium-sized meat production businesses which have little resources for the construction of their own feed production facilities.