At an official ceremony attended by high-level officials from Russia and Spain, Cherkizovo Group opened its latest meat processing plant at Kashira in the Moscow region. Annual output is expected to reach 30,000 metric tons of smoked sausage products, which is around 30 percent of domestic production of products in this category.
With this investment already reaching RUB7.0 billion (US$111 million), Cherkizovo hopes to achieve a competitive edge both in its domestic and export markets, as well as the highest standards of food safety and product quality.
The project went through several modifications before completion, according to Igor Babaev, founder of the Cherkizovo Group.
“Today, we see here a powerful production facility that has no equals globally and inspires a sense of national pride,” he said.
Not only is the Kashira processing plant the largest of its kind in the world, it utilizes cutting-edge technology and an “unprecedented level of automation” from across Europe, according to Cherkizovo.
The whole production line is controlled by artificial intelligence systems that operate robots without any human intervention. A team of IT professionals oversee the software that offers full automation of production, financial, procurement, planning and sales activities.
Among those attending the official opening ceremony were Alexei Gordeyev, Russia’s deputy prime minister; Andrey Vorobyev, governor of the Moscow region; Sergey Mikhailov, Cherkizovo Group’s CEO; and His Excellency Ignacio Ibanez Rubio, Spain’s ambassador to Russia.
Pig growing and finishing facility
In the past few days, Cherkizovo Group has also opened a new pig growing and finishing facility in the Semiluki area.
This is the seventh and final unit to be built by the firm in the Voronezh region. Each of these has an annual pork production estimated to be at least 5,000 metric tons, and output from Cherkizovo’s pork cluster in the region is forecast to exceed 40,000 metric tons next year.
This month, Cherkizovo signed a letter of intent to acquire Altaisky Broiler from another Russian company, Prioskolie.
