In 2015, Eurodon plans to increase production capacity to 75,000 tonnes (t) per year in live weight, according to chief executive Vadim Vaneev. Last year, the company produced 42,000t of turkey. The design capacity of the whole project amounts to 130,000t and the company expects to reach this level as early as 2016.
"Currently we are working on the construction of 222 poultry houses, and 86 of them have already been built," stated Vaneev. According to official information, the project also involves the construction of an incubator, a plant for slaughtering and deep processing of turkey and a feed mill with a total capacity of 750,000t of compound feed production per year. The total investment in the project is estimated at RUB17.5 billion (US$321m).
According to the head of Eurodon, the implementation of these plans will enable the company to enter the list of five largest producers of turkey in the world.
"Our products, even with the volume of production of 42,000t per year and sales all over the country, are in such short supply that we are urgently building a new agricultural complex that already in 2016 year will be able to produce 130,000t. A few years later we will get into the list of the top five manufacturers [of turkey] in the world," he said.
The company expects to enjoy growing demand on the domestic Russian market. Over the past decade the consumption of turkey in Russia has jumped from 200 grams per person per year to 2kg per person per year and, according to experts, the supply of high-quality turkey products on grocery shelves is contributing to further growth of demand.
At the same time, ‘The strategy of the development of livestock industry in Russia for the period 2013-2020’ stipulates that the production of turkeys in the country during this period will probably grow faster than the production of any other types of meat, thanks to the growing demand on the domestic market.
Industry experts pointed out that turkey consumption in European countries on average stands at 3.8kg per capita, so the Russian market has bright growth prospects.
Vaneev also added that Eurodon is currently investing in a major project for the production of duck meat.
"We are launching the first stage of the production with a capacity of 24,000t of duck meat per year. With the launching of the second stage, the design capacity will be doubled," he said, adding that it is noteworthy that just as with the company’s turkey brand ‘Indolina’, the duck meat brand ‘Utolina’ entered the market without any advertising spend.