Russia’s Cherkizovo Group aims to expand chicken production by 10% in one western region. It has also acquired more land for the production of grains and oilseeds to supply its own feed mills.
Earlier this month, Cherkizovo Group officially opened a broiler complex in the Lipetsk region. By next year, the company expects the new facility to help boost chicken production in this region of the Central federal district by as much as 10%.
With an investment of 400 million rubles (RUB; US$4.3 million), the company repurposed its former parent stock facility in the Lebedyansky district to rear broiler chickens. Feeding, watering and ventilation systems in the 32 buildings have been upgraded, along with facilities for the workforce.
From the previous production of almost 121,000 metric tons (mt; liveweight) of chickens or 60% of the regional total, the company is aiming for an additional 12,000mt output from the newly renovated facility.
Across Russia, the group’s target is one million metric tons of broiler meat annually.
With a workforce of around 4,000 already in the region, Cherkizovo says that Lipetsk is a center of strategic importance. It already has operations producing animal feed, pork, and processed meats in the area, as well as 61,000 hectares (150,700 acres) of land planted with grains and oilseeds, and a soybean processing plant.
Cherkizovo acquires more cropland
In a related development announced towards the end of October, at the end of October, Cherkizovo Group announced it had acquired 15,000 hectares of land in the Belgorod region from Bental LLC.
The deal also includes two crop production facilities. Part owned and part leased, Cherkizovo will use the land for the cultivation of wheat, corn, and soybeans to supply its feed mills.
Although the acquisition provides the Group with its first land assets in the region, it already has hatcheries and a poultry processing facility in Belgorod.
The latest purchase and lease bring the group’s overall land bank to 355,000 hectares, from which it harvests around 600,000mt of crops each year.
Like Lipetsk, the Belgorod region is located in the Central federal district of Russia.
More on Cherkizovo Group
With annual slaughterings approaching 329 million birds per year, Cherkizovo Group is easily among the 10 largest poultry companies in Europe, according to WATTPoultry.com’s Top Poultry Companies survey. As well as chickens and turkeys, the company also produces table eggs.
According to the same source, Moscow-based Cherkizovo is the second largest poultry producer in Russia, based on birds slaughtered per year. It operates nine poultry farms, including a joint venture producing turkeys. Among its brands for chicken products are Petelinka and Kurinoe Tsarstvo (“Chicken Kingdom”), and Pava-Pava for turkey meat.
While the second largest producer of chicken and turkey meats in Russia, the firm’s web site states that Cherkizovo Group is the country’s largest meat company. In 2022, the group produced 846,000mt of broiler meat. In the same year, its turkey meat capacity is given as 100,000mt through two operations. From feed production to processed meat products, Tambov Turkey is a fully integrated business, while Krasnodar is a turkey breeder with farms in two districts in Tula oblast. Located to the south of Moscow, Tula is also part of Russia’s Central federal district.
For the last financial year (2022), Cherkizovo Group reported a net profit of RUB14.6 billion from revenue of RUB184.3 billion.
