The leading German slaughtering business and meat processor, Tönnies, is expanding into Russia with investments planned in new pig feed operations.
The company is to join forces with listed agricultural enterprise KTG Agrar to establish a subsidiary firm. Over the next few years, both companies are to invest up to €600 million in the regions of Woronesch and Belgorod and fatten circa 1 million pigs per year.
The cooperation is beneficial to both companies: KTG practices large-scale agriculture in the Baltic states and as Tönnies’ CEO, Clemens Tönnies, told the ‘Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung’: “We are the leading meat exporter to Russia. So it makes sense for us to develop local farming.”
KTG will not only supply Tönnies’ pig fattening with food, but also with business structures in Russia.
According to KTG’s CEO, Siegfried Hofreiter, the company has been actively investing in TKS Agro Invest over the past four years.
In addition, farm machinery and a large mixed feed plant as well as 10,000 hectares for swill growing have been acquired. Eleven additional sties for pig fattening and one abattoir are to be built, Hofreiter announced.
According to the ‘Frankfurter Allgemeine’, the business deal might not have been entirely spontaneous. The newspaper speculates the Russian government could have pressured Tönnies into investing in a local pig feed in order to promote the country’s industry. Tönnies, however, denies any external influence on the deal.
By German Correspondent Friederike Schönhardt
