RusAgroMarket opened an ORC worth 8.6 billion rubles

The federal network RusAgroMarket opened its first wholesale distribution center (WDC) in the Novosibirsk Region. The area of ​​the first phase of the project is 103 thousand square meters. m. ORC includes two multi-temperature and freezing terminals, as well as pavilions for wholesale trade and technical facilities. Investments in the project amounted to 8.6 billion rubles. Going forward, the company plans to build ORCs in Rostov-on-Don, Yekaterinburg, Kazan, St. Petersburg , and possibly Voronezh, the company said.

The Novosibirsk project of the company is a multifunctional trade and logistics platform that gives farmers, processors and suppliers of ready-made food products access to the services of storage, processing, packaging, marketing and integrated logistics of fresh products. In addition, small and medium-sized producers will be able to expand sales markets due to convenient transportation, and the shelf life of their products will increase. On the other hand, it will be easier for retailers and HoReCa to select suppliers through the electronic marketplace system, where all registered participants will be able to track current offers online and place orders remotely.

Work on the concept of the RusAgroMarket ORC (formerly RosAgroMarket) in Novosibirsk began about seven years ago. In 2016, it was reported that the total area of ​​the center would be 210 thousand square meters. m., one-time storage capacity - 136 thousand tons. The volume of investments was planned at the level of 16.5 billion rubles. The first stage of the ORC was supposed to be put into operation in the second quarter of 2017. In 2016, it was also planned to start construction of the ORC in the Rostov and Moscow regions, but so far the work has not started. The company planned to invest more than 20 billion rubles in these projects.

According to RusAgroMarket General DIRECTOR Bogdan Grigoriev, large infrastructure projects always require more time for implementation. One of the factors is long payback periods (the planned period for the Novosibirsk ORC is about eight years, but it will depend on state support measures), which require “long money”, and just a couple of banks can provide such financing in RUSSIA. In addition, the project is tied to state support measures, which have changed a lot during its implementation. “Well, the construction itself is never completed exactly on time. These three factors - the timing, the persuasion of banks to take risks, the lengthening of these terms due to fluctuations in state support measures and objective construction delays - dictated the timing of the implementation of our pilot,” Grigoriev told Agroinvestor.

Now, he continues, the uncertainty with the measures to support this direction is hindering the active expansion of the ORC network. According to Grigoriev, with a high probability in the next year or two, the Ministry of Agriculture will refuse to subsidize capital expenditures in all areas. “In the case of ORC, this leads to a payback period of 10 years, which is extremely difficult for our investment market. We are trying to modify the business model, taking into account this factor,” he adds.

Subsidizing investment loans and reimbursement of capex are the most effective measures for the development of the ORC network in Russia, Grigoriev believes and cites support for greenhouse vegetable growing as an example. As part of the state program 2013-2020, an entire industry was, in fact, created from scratch, and today the Russian tomato in January-February at "at least somewhat affordable" prices is no longer news. “This happened due to a combination of two support measures: subsidizing investment loans and reimbursement of capex. A similar connection would help in the development of the ORC network,” Grigoriev is sure. At the same time, such support measures are needed precisely at the beginning of the implementation of new projects for the industry. Further, subsidies can be removed when the business model has established itself in the market and can develop itself. If these two measures are fixed at least until 2025,

Mikhail Glushkov, director of the Fruit and Vegetable Union

Such wholesale distribution centers, first of all, allow small producers to sell their products to retail chains, since it is there that it is possible to form a commercial batch of agricultural products in cooperation with other farmers. Both retail and agricultural producers are interested in this. Thanks to ORC, an additional distribution channel also appears. Now a dealer comes to the farmer and tells him: “I will buy a kilogram of potatoes from you for 5 rubles, or you can throw it away.” Farmers, in fact, have no choice, since there may not be another dealer. However, with the advent of the ORC, all producers will know that they can always sell their goods to the ORC, or send it there for storage, or order washing, packing, etc. The farmer can calculate all this, use the services of the ORC and not sell their products to the previously only distribution channel - the reseller-monopoly. In addition, the creation of a network of ORCs would make it possible to solve the problem of the shortage of certain types of products in the context of regions and reduce price fluctuations in regional food markets.

Russia is experiencing an acute shortage of such ORCs, says Mikhail Glushkov, director of the Fruit and Vegetable Union. In 2014, the Ministry of Agriculture supplemented the state program for the development of agriculture with a subprogram "Development of the ORC and the infrastructure of the social catering system" worth 79.3 billion rubles. According to Glushkov, this was necessary to ensure the food balance in the regions: with the help of the ORC, it would be easy to redistribute agricultural products between them. “But the program was never implemented: the government's priorities changed,” says Glushkov. At that time, Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich actively lobbied for the ORC development project throughout the country, investors could get capex, but with his departure, “everything was over”, and only preferential loans remained.

“RusAgroMarket, as I understand it, is one of those companies that started working when the capital cost recovery program was in effect, and they most likely hoped for a refund,” Glushkov commented to Agroinvestor. But when the ORC was put into operation, the support program was already closed. “Such instability in state support is not the best signal for investors. It is not entirely correct to change the rules of the game for those who are already involved in the implementation of state programs and priorities,” Glushkov concluded.

Russian agro-exporters have simplified obtaining a soft loan for the purchase of raw materials

In 2018, the Ministry of Agriculture and VEB announced the need to create a network of ORCs, recalls Tatyana Kozlova, senior project manager for the Valuation and Financial Consulting division of the SRG group of companies. The country needs them, but given the size of Russia, a global operator at the federal level is needed, otherwise the projects will remain local. “Already implemented ORC projects (in the Moscow Region, Ingushetia, Kabardino-Balkaria, the Chechen Republic, Tatarstan, etc.) showed a weak economy (reliance on state support), as well as a focus on a development focus - work through the lease of space, and not the structuring of goods flows” , - Kozlova told Agroivnestore.