Rusagro expects to receive permits in 2024 to start exporting pork to China from Primorye

VLADIVOSTOK. Sept 4 (Interfax) - The Rusagro Group expects this year to receive all necessary permits to start supplying pork from its cluster in Primorye to China, Rusagro Deputy CEO Alexander Tarasov said during the Eastern Economic Forum.

"We started investing in our meat cluster in Primorye in 2016. We built a totally new enterprise, Rusagro-Primorye, in the Mikhailovsky advanced economic zone, [where] we expect to process 75,000 tonnes of pork [per year]. We commissioned the main assets in 2021. This enterprise solves the problems of both providing for the domestic market and export. We expect to receive all the necessary permits this year to export our enterprise's products to China," he said.

Tarasov said Rusagro also planned to export of mixed feed from the Primorye cluster to China.

"Our mixed feed business is of particular interest to us. On the one hand it supplies our pig-breeding cluster, and on the other hand, we see its potential in terms of export to China. This involves obtaining several permits and interstate cooperation, but in general, we believe that this is only a matter of time," he said.

Accreditation to ship pork to China has so far been granted to Miratorg, Velikoluksky Meat Plant and Rusagro's Tambov Bacon. Rusagro has already started exporting to China from its Tambov enterprises - those exports could amount to 10,000 tonnes by the end of the year.

The Russian National Union of Hog Breeders estimates exports of pork products from Russia to China amounted to around 17,000 tonnes in January-July and could reach 50,000-60,000 tonnes by the end of the year.

Rusagro is one of Russia's leading agricultural holdings. It ranks first in the production of sunflower oil and margarine, second in the production of sugar and industrial fats and third in pork.

Rusagro produced 334,000 tonnes of pork in live weight for slaughter in 2023, down 1% or 2,000 tonnes from 2022.

The company has assets in 15 Russian regions, including the Belgorod, Tambov, Voronezh, Kursk, Oryol, Sverdlovsk, Samara, and Orenburg regions, the Primorye territory and others. The land bank is 696,000 hectares.