Information for fruit and vegetables business in CIS
Russia: Belaya Dacha to produce potatoes for McDonalds
Russian holding company Belaya Dacha plans to cultivate potatoes in the Lipetsk Oblast, and McDonalds could be their main customer. The company plans to sign a corresponding agreement during the first quarter of the year to start work with a new investment partner, the company's founder, Victor Semenov, confirmed. The name of the investor will not be revealed until all of the documents have been signed.
Before the relationship between Russia and western countries soured, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and potato processing companies from the Netherlands were the previous investors in the project to produce French fries in Russia's Lipetsk Oblast.
Semenov also announced the company's plan to connect with McDonald's, which could be the main customer for these products.
“They are a motivator of this project,” he said.
Other than McDonald's, the company is planning to supply potatoes to retail chains and catering companies.
The company also plans to increase its cultivation area for potatoes to 4,000 hectares. The raw materials for the needs of the company will be grown in the neighboring region of Tambov where they already have 2,000 hectares of land. Total production is expected to be able to fulfill 30 percent of the demand for raw materials, and as for the rest of the potatoes needed, the company is to purchase them from farmers in Russia's Black Earth Region. The total planned capacity of the enterprise will be about 100,000 tonnes of finished products annually.