REC Group Nearly Doubled Support for Agricultural Companies in 2021

Russian agribusinesses received 1.7 times more support in 2021 compared to the previous year, and this trend has continued into 2022.

The Russian Export Center (REC, part of VEB.RF) group has increased its backing of agricultural export firms, Nikita Gusakov, REC senior vice president and CEO of EXIAR, said at the opening of a Cherkizovo Group oil extraction plant in Yelets, Lipetsk.

"The agribusiness industry has become one of the fastest growing non-energy export sectors in Russia in recent years, and the opening of Cherkizovo Group's largest oilseeds processing plant in the country will help the company expand its foreign supplies. The REC Group systematically increases the amount of support for domestic agricultural companies: in 2021 it has grown by 1.7 times compared with the previous year," Gusakov said.

He further noted that the first half of 2022 also recorded a significant increase in support over the same period last year. Gusakov added that the inaugurated oilseed processing facility will allow the firm not only to develop its fodder base and optimize the cost of its main products, but also to significantly expand its export potential.

"The demand for soybean oil is stable and high in many countries of Southeast Asia and North Africa, and the REC Group, together with Cherkizovo Group, is working on the most promising export destinations," Gusakov said.

The Cherkizovo Group began operations at the oil extraction plant on August 11. It is Russia's largest high-protein oilseed processing facility, with a capacity to process about a million tons of soybeans per year (2,500 tons per day). The plant will produce soybean oil, soybean meal, shells, and lecithin, which will be supplied to the company's nine feed mills located in different regions of the country.

Moreover, Cherkizovo Group plans to export the plant's products to China, CIS countries and other regions. Upon inauguration, Cherkizovo Group CEO Sergey Mikhailov, Russian Minister of Agriculture Dmitry Patrushev and Lipetsk Governor Igor Artamonov gave a ceremonial beginning to operations by pressing a symbolic start button.