Roskar will expand egg production in the Leningrad region for 2.5 billion rubles.

JSC " Roskar Poultry Farm " will modernize egg production in the Leningrad region and increase their production by 300 million pieces per year. The corresponding agreement was signed by the deputy general DIRECTOR of the company, Mikhail Lyagush, and the chairman of the committee for the agro-industrial and fishery complex of the Leningrad region, Oleg Malashchenko, at the international agro-industrial exhibition “Agrorus-2023”. The volume of investment in the project is estimated at 2.5 billion rubles. The launch of production will be phased and will stretch over 2024-2025.

According to Rosptitsesoyuz, Roskar produced 1.37 billion eggs in 2022 and occupied 4% of the Russian market. The company became the second in the country in terms of egg production.

Malashchenko clarified that Roskar will increase not only the gross production of eggs, but also their deep processing. According to him, the company's processed eggs are used in 18 types of products, in particular, this product goes to confectionery factories and the needs of pharmaceutical manufacturers. As the press service of the Committee on the Agro-Industrial and Fishery Complex clarified, the company now processes 50% of its eggs into melange, dry protein and other types of products.

As part of the signed agreement, the authoritiespartially offset expansion costs. “We undertake to compensate for at least 10% of capital costs; accordingly, we receive an additional 8 poultry houses, 200,000 birds each. There will be an increase [in egg production] by 300 million,” Malashchenko said.

Production and consumption are growing slowly

According to the results of the first half of 2023, compared to the same period last year, egg production in RUSSIA increased by only 2.5% and reached 23.3 billion pieces, according to Rosstat data. Similar growth rates were recorded at the end of 2022 – 45.8 billion units (+2.8%).

The Leningrad region today is the largest egg-producing region. The press service of the regional administration reported that in 2022, egg production reached 3.5 billion rubles. – this is 9% of the total volume in Russia. At the Agrorus-2022 forum, Malashchenko announced plans to increase egg production to 5 billion eggs per year by 2027. These plans remain, the committee confirmed.

At the same time, the consumption of chicken eggs does not show significant growth. Analysts at Rosselkhozbank predict that by 2025 it will increase by only 4% - up to 320 pieces per person per year.

Deep processing will help

Experts interviewed by Vedomosti North-West are confident that despite the slight increase in consumption, Roskar will not encounter problems selling additional volumes of products. It can simply push the product of smaller local producers off the shelves, says Albert Davleev, president of the international consulting company Agrifood Strategies. “Now Roskar is already supplying eggs to federal networks. They are guaranteed a place on the shelf, but small and medium-sized enterprises are experiencing difficulties,” the expert said.

Another driver for increasing sales is deep processing. Roman Samoilov, Project Manager of the AIC Practice at Strategy Partners, notes that in Russia processed eggs are purchased by manufacturers of mayonnaise, sauces, bakery and confectionery products. However, according to his data, the share of consumption of such products in the country is only 4%. For comparison, in the European Union this figure exceeds 20%, and in Japan – 40%. Thus, the Russian market still has significant potential for growth.

The production and consumption of highly processed egg products is growing faster than conventional eggs. For example, in 2022, 53,671 tons of egg melange, including dry and liquid, were produced in the Russian Federation. This is 7% more than in 2021, and over two years production increased by 14%.

If there is an oversupply of highly processed egg products on the domestic market, enterprises can EXPORT them , says Davleev. “If there are export difficulties with raw eggs due to high requirements, then they are more liberal with processed products. There is great export potential here. For example, Sinyavinskaya has experience in supplying its products to the Middle East,” the expert noted.