E-Malt.com News article: 1907

Russia: One of the world’s largest agricultural corporations, American company, Cargill, Incorporated, plans to invest about US$50 million in construction a new malting plant in Russia, local newspaper Vedomosti reported on December 10. The plant will be built in Efremov town, Tula region. Cargill’s business rivals consider that the Americans are too late with the project, Vedomosti said. According to provisional data Cargill’s sales volumes will reach US$ 59 billion this year. Cargill is one of the biggest traders of cereals, vegetable oils and other foodstuffs. Cargill is also one of the leading malt producers. The company invested in Russia more than US$ 150 million so far.

According to Cargill’s spokeswoman, Irina Kalighina, new plant construction is planned to be started in spring 2004 and in the middle of 2005 the new plant will start producing malt. Kaligina said the investments will come to US$ 40- 50 million. Cargill intends to sell the malt produced at the new plant to Russian brewers. However Cargill hasn’t revealed the production capacity of the future plant. Meanwhile Russian analysts said that the production capacity of Cargills malting plant would be of 100,000 tonnes of malt per year. “That is a standard capacity for a similar object. Plants with such capacities are already explored by Soufflet in St. Petersburg and by Ochakovo in Lipetsk,” they said.

According to Russian Beer Union, Russia use about 1.2 million tonnes of malt per year, in this connection 400,000 tonnes of malt is produced in the country and the rest is imported. However this relation will change soon. Baltika will launch its own malting plant with a capacity of 100,000 tonnes in summer 2004. At the same time, in summer 2004, Avangard bank plans to launch its second malting plant in Central Russia. By January 2005 Avangard is to launch its third malting plant in Orlovsk Region. The total production capacities of Avangard’s malting plants will come to 300 thousand tonnes per year that will cover about 30% of the Russian brewers needs in malt.

When all planned malting capacities will start working the malt needs of brewing industry will be covered two-thirds, experts said. They also said that in two years the malt prices in Russia will decrease by 1.5 times and will give Russian brewing industry a new impulse.


10 December, 2003