Miratorg does not see the payback of projects and does not rule out a decrease in investment

ABH Miratorg, one of the leading producers of MEAT products in the Russian Federation, does not rule out a decrease in investment in the development of the company in the coming years against the background of rising costs and state regulation of the agro-industrial complex markets.

“We are big enthusiasts in terms of investments - over the past 10 years we have invested more than 350 billion rubles in agriculture, in principle, all projects are successfully paying off,” said Viktor Linnik, president of the holding, at the XIII Gaidar Forum on Thursday. “But for the first time in the last 15 years, we are in a situation where it is not profitable to invest in poultry, pig or cattle, we do not see the payback of projects.”

In this situation, according to him, the state should pay attention to the methods of regulation. “For all of us, the removal of restrictions (on meat imports - IF), the zeroing of the import rate for 200,000 tons of imported beef was a surprise. The same is true for pig farming. The decision has been made, we will live by the rules that the state has chosen. But this is incomprehensible to us,” he said, adding that “only Miratorg is adding 35% to pig production this year.” “This is thanks to the investments that were made three years ago,” Linnik said.

Speaking about the discussion of the proposal of the Ministry of Agriculture to increase the subsidy rate for preferential loans, Linnik said that it would also reduce the payback of projects.

As reported, at the suggestion of the Ministry of Agriculture, the government decided to import duty-free from January 1 of this year 100 thousand tons of pork (for half a year) and 200 thousand tons of beef (for the whole year). The Ministry of Agriculture also proposes to raise the marginal rate of soft loans from 5% to 7% and reduce the subsidizing rate to 70% of the key rate of the Central Bank.

The HEAD of Miratorg also did not rule out that in the next two or three years the holding would be forced to cut social programs. “Although in our practice there was also the construction of kindergartens, and we built several cottage settlements, we help in acquiring housing, we solve issues with mortgages,” he said.

Linnik also warned against copying foreign methods of sustainable development in the Russian Federation, in particular in the environmental sphere. “Often copying leads to higher production costs or excessive regulation,” he said.

ABH Miratorg was founded in 1995. The holding's enterprises operate in 17 regions of RUSSIA. The structure includes grain companies, feed mills, elevators, pig breeding complexes, meat processing enterprises. Production on them is organized according to the principle "from the field to the counter".

The holding is owned by Viktor and Alexander Linnik.