Aston ships 100,000 tonnes of vegetable oil to Africa in 2022

ST. PETERSBURG. July 28 (Interfax) - Aston, one of the largest Russian exporters of grain and oil and fat products, sent nearly 100,000 tonnes of vegetable oil to countries in Africa in 2022, Deputy General Director Vladimir Ochatov said at the Russia-Africa forum in St. Petersburg on Friday.

"The trend is generally positive; we intend to expand trade with the states on the African continent," he said, noting that two trends contribute to this: "population growth and the positive development of the economies of African states, which leads to increased prosperity and a possible change in consumer preferences."

Ochatov said that 72% of consumption in African countries is currently palm oil, followed in order by soybean and sunflower oils.

The way to increase shipments of Russian oil, primarily sunflower, is to expand the geography, Ochatov said. The capacity of the Ethiopian market is 650,000 tonnes per year, and its main supplier of sunflower oil is Turkey.

"The next step, where we can expand commercial contacts, is to work directly with national importers. This will allow us to participate in national tenders, and to better understand the needs of our partners as well as the local specifics of vegetable oil consumption. For example, in Nigeria, only 5% of purchases take place in supermarkets; they occur mostly in small retail outlets," he said.

Efforts should be made to remove barriers that exist in a number of countries regarding food imports as well.

Reports put the revenue of Aston in 2022 at 127.6 billion rubles versus 108.3 billion rubles in 2021, with net profit of 5 billion rubles against 6.8 billion rubles, respectively.

The beneficiary of the company is businessman Vadim Vikulov.