China's Famsun Group to build grain terminal for 1.5 mln tpy at Makhachkala port

MAKHACHKALA. April 18 (Interfax) - China's Famsun Group plans to build a grain terminal at the Makhachkala Commercial Seaport (MMTP) in Dagestan, the southern Russian region's Agriculture and Food Ministry reported on its Telegram channel.

The terminal is expected to have capacity to handle 1.5 million tonnes of grain per year and storage capacity for up to 100,000 tonnes. The port can currently handle 500,000 tonnes of grain per year.

The ministry did not specify the cost and timeframe of the project.

It was reported earlier that the Makhachkala port increased cargo handling by 5.9% to 2.939 million tonnes in 2023. The port's acting CEO, Rustam Kerimov said the growth was driven primarily by grain exports and imports of construction materials, including cement and clinker brick.

MMTP is Russia's only ice-free and deep-water port on the Caspian Sea and can accommodate vessels up to 150 meters long with a draft of up to 4.5 meters, the port's website said. The port has facilities that handle dry cargo, with capacity of 3 million tonnes per year; light and dark oil products (7.9 million tonnes); and general, bulk and container cargo (1.2 million tonnes). It also has a railway and automobile terminal (1.3 million tonnes) and grain terminal (0.5 million tonnes).

Famsun Group develops and delivers comprehensive solutions in manufacturing equipment for milling, processing and storing grain and processing of oil crops. The group has developed more than 700 models of equipment. The group, which is headquartered in Yangzhou, has five production facilities, more than 50 agencies, sales and service stations, as well as spare part warehouses throughout the world.