Polonis Group plans to build a rabbit farm for 2 billion rubles

In March, Kommersant’s sources reported that over 570 million rubles could be invested in the first phase of the project, more than 610 million rubles in the second, and almost 740 million rubles in the third. The first stage, with a capacity of 370 tons per year, was supposed to be built by 2024, the second by 2025, and the third by 2027. Previously, the company experienced difficulties obtaining credit funds from Sberbank. The loan was approved only in September.

The enterprise's production volume will be 1.3 thousand tons of MEAT and offal per year. Such indicators should bring the Voronezh region to second place in RUSSIA in the production of rabbit meat after the Smolensk region (1.9 thousand tons). Rabbit meat production in Russia in 2022 increased by 4% and amounted to 10 thousand tons,  the Ministry of Agriculture previously reported . The leading regions for the production of rabbit meat in Russia are the Moscow, Smolensk, Orenburg, Bryansk, Lipetsk, Kostroma, Volgograd and Leningrad regions, as well as the Krasnodar Territory.

President of the National Union of Rabbit Breeders Alexey Yemelyanov said that the new project has good prospects. According to him, there is now a demand for rabbit meat , but it is limited by the fact that consumers know little about preparing such meat. “We need work in this direction in order to convey to consumers information about the beneficial qualities and properties of rabbit meat. I think that the development of this segment lies in developing deep processing and selling semi-finished products,” he argues.  

According to him, it will take about a year from the start of financing to the release of the first products. “This is a large project, and probably the only one that has begun to be implemented recently,” Emelyanov noted. Rabbit meat is quite expensive compared to other types, but at the same time it is not a product for mass consumption, so there is a demand for it, continues the HEAD of the union. The rabbit meat market in Russia is quite small; significant progress is not currently observed. “But I am sure that with the advent of new projects we can hope for an increase in the sales market itself,” added Emelyanov.