Sibagro ships first grain to China, South Korea

TOMSK. Feb 14 (Interfax) - Sibagro Group has shipped its first batch of grain to China and South Korea, the Russian agribusiness group reported.

The first shipment of 200 freight cars consists of 10,000 tonnes of barley and 5,000 tonnes of wheat.

For a year before Sibagro started exporting, Russian plant and animal health watchdog Rosselkhoznadzor monitored its seeds before planting, studied crops in the field during maturity and inspected grain in storage for weeds subject to quarantine and harmful substances.

Sibagro said it plans to plant 20,000 hectares of rapeseed this year to develop its export business.

It was reported earlier that Sibagro was developing a crop farming business in Krasnoyarsk Territory with a view to exporting grain to Asia. Specifically, the company purchased equipment for packing grain into big bags and modernized two grain storage facilities at its drying and storage complex.

The group harvested more than 600,000 tonnes of grain in 2023, which is enough to cover its own needs as well as sell some.

Sibagro, a vertically integrated agribusiness group founded in Tomsk in 2000, has 14 livestock farms and meat processing plants in Russia's Ural, Siberia, Central and Far East federal districts. Sibagro was Russia's second largest pork producer in 2023 with 377,600 tonnes, giving it a 6.7% share of the market, according to the National Union of Pig Breeders.