Miratorg pumps cash into cattle breeding

Russian agribusiness Miratorg plans to loosen the purse strings by investing $10m in a cattle breeding programme to grow its Angus cow herd.

Russia’s largest producer of beef will pump more than 727m Russian roubles ($10.9m) in the cattle breeding project in Tula, around 190km from the capital Moscow.

For several years Miratorg has worked to transform the Tula region – an undeveloped region in Russia believed to be perfect for large-scale agricultural projects. This is part of the company’s ongoing plan to build a massive, vertically-integrated, multi-state beef project with the Tula site capable of rearing 50,000 head of cattle per year.

After years of development Miratorg believes it is getting closer to the completion of its first Tula-based beef farm. Once fully completed, Miratorg’s beef project – which spans across Bryansk, Kaliningrad, Smolensk, Oryol and Kaluga – will be the biggest in terms of beef production capacity in the region since the post-Soviet Union era.

Close to China

The president of Miratorg, Viktor Linnik, said the Tula region provides “favourable conditions” for the developing of the businesses beef line. But he said the success of the ambitious project will not rest solely on the good conditions of the land as the health of the herd will also depend on access to balanced food and water, as well as competent veterinary care.

Miratorg wants to cosy up to its neighbour China by demonstrating an ability to produce large quantities of meat. In the past Miratorg has not hidden its interest in boosting exports to China, and to a lesser extent with countries in the Eurasian Economic Union such as Belarus and Kazakhstan.