Russia's Ekoniva starts exchange trading in dairy products

MOSCOW. Oct 16 (Interfax) - The Ekoniva agricultural holding, a leading Russian producer of raw milk, began exchange trading in dairy products on Monday, the company said in a statement.

Trading occurs on the National Commodity Exchange (NAMEX, part of the Moscow Exchange group ). The group's counterparties who register on the NAMEX platform and are admitted to Ekoniva auctions will be able to participate in them.

"The farms of the Ekoniva Group of Companies, located in the Bobrovsky and Liskinsky districts of the Voronezh region, were chosen as the supply base. The minimum purchase volume is 720 tonnes on 30-day terms of shipment in uniform batches of 24 tonnes per day," the company said in a statement.

The president of the holding, Stefan Duerr told Interfax that the exchange is aimed at making the dairy market more transparent and providing it with real price guidelines. "I looked at how other goods are traded on the exchange; grain, and sugar, for example. Yes, the volumes are small, but they are sufficient for the creation of price guidelines," he said.

Ekoniva is a vertically integrated holding. Founded in 1994 by entrepreneur Stefan Duerr. It manages assets in 13 Russian regions: Voronezh, Kaluga, Kursk, Leningrad, Moscow, Novosibirsk, Orenburg, Ryazan, Samara and Tyumen regions, as well as in Altai Territory, Bashkortostan and Tatarstan.

The group's main dairy division unites 40 modern livestock complexes. Last year, they produced about 1.2 million tonnes of raw milk. Ekoniva has been developing milk processing since 2013. It manages five production sites in the Voronezh, Kaluga and Novosibirsk regions. In addition, the group's enterprises are engaged in pedigree and beef cattle breeding, seed production, crop production and organic agriculture. The holding is one of the five largest owners of agricultural land with 630,000 hectares.

The group's revenues, according to unaudited reporting, increased 31% in 2022, to 66 billion rubles; while in euros (the parent company of the group is registered in Germany) it increased 64% to 957 million euros. EBITDA increased 60% to 26.5 billion rubles.