USSEC recently visited the the largest meat and compound feed producer in Russia to provide technical support.
In mid May, Dr. Gonzalo G. Mateos, USSEC animal utilization consultant, accompanied by local consultant Maria Domoroshchenkova, visited the Research Center of Cherkizovo Group, the largest meat and compound feed producer in Russia.
The Cherkizovo Group’s Research Center is a world class innovative laboratory complex equipped with the most modern equipment from U.S., European, and Japanese manufacturers, which makes it possible to test any of the products produced at the Cherkizovo facilities. The infrastructure includes 8 full cycle poultry production facilities, 16 modern pork production complexes, 6 meat processing plants, 8 feed mills, grain storage facilities, and 287,000 hectares of agricultural land. The Group also includes Tambov Turkey facility, a joint Russian-Spanish venture.
The day could have been named International Visitors Day at the Cherkizovo Center, as a number of foreign specialists visited at the same time. Dr. Eauheni Shastak, Head of Technical Service, and Dr. Robert Ruehle, Head of Animal Nutrition, from BASF SE for Europe, Africa and West Asia, were visiting the Center on this day and they were glad to have an opportunity to meet with USSEC consultants and to attend the USSEC seminar as well.
Rafael Fuertos, the general manager of Elposo Alimentacion, S.A., from Spain, and a director for the Cherkizovo Group, visited the Center and was positively surprised by a meeting with his compatriot Dr. Mateos. Spanish Grupo Fuertos is one of the stockholders of the Cherkizovo Group, developing a joint project on turkey production in Russia.
Dr. Mateos was happy to share his expertise in the evaluation of energy values of ingredients for broiler feeding. Dr. Mateos’ presentation was followed by an active discussion and an invitation for new visits. These offered the opportunity to further explain the advantages of U.S. Soy and soy in general in poultry rations and difference of soybean meal quality by origin.
According to a 2017 rating of Russian companies, Cherkizovo Group is the largest meat and compound feeds producer in Russia. It ranked the first in poultry meat production with total volume of production of broiler meat at 615 thousand tons and turkey meat at 38 thousand tons in live weight. It was the second largest pork producer in Russia with a total volume of 212 thousand tons. The Group’s feed mills manufactured 1.7 million tons of compound feeds and its consolidated revenue was RUB 90.5 billion (approximately $1.5 billion USD) in 2017.