Russian Fishery Company (RFC) and the Moscow, Russia-based Agama Group have inked a deal to jointly construct a second processing plant.
The parties signed a cooperation agreement on 13 August to establish a joint venture in which RFC will get 50.01 percent of shares, with the remainder owned by Agama. According to companies’ press release, construction on the plant will start this month and will be finished in 2020.
Their first plant, being built as part of a separate joint venture, is also being constructed in the Murmansk region and is scheduled to be completed later this year – as soon as September, according to local media reports. It will specialize in cod processing.
RFC CEO Fedor Kirsanov said in a press release the new project, dubbed “Russian Haddock,” will proceed at a similar pace to the original JV project, which the companies are calling “Russian Cod.”
“The project of ‘Russian Cod’ s being implemented in accordance with all agreed parameters, and we are confident that the 'Russian Haddock' factory will be also built on time and with high quality,” he said.
“Russian Haddock” will have a daily capacity of 25 metric tons (MT) of finished seafood products, according to the company. Supply for the plant will come from investment quotas, a mechanism designed by the Russian government to spur national fisheries to upgrade their aging fleets and build new processing capacities. RFC actively participated in federal investment quota auctions to gain access to more fishery resources.
The idea behind the cooperation of RFC and Agama is a combination of competences in fishing and retail. While RFC has strong capabilities in fishing, Agama is good at processing and distribution, Kirsanov said.
“The agreement signed today with the Agama Group extends our cooperation, which has already proved its success,” he said. “Together, we produce premium quality pollock products under the combined brand “Agama-Nordeco.”
Agama CEO Yuri Alasheev said his company “has a serious experience in the production of frozen fish products.” Agama’s specializes in promoting its own brands in retail stores, among professional chefs, and providing logistics services, he said.
“Buyers are already familiar with the high quality of cod and haddock products which are produced at the company's existing facilities,” he said. “Our partnership with RFC will expand the production of premium-quality products and guarantee a high level of the joint projects implementation.”
Given the great distances between where much of Russia’s seafood is caught the country’s population centers, it is difficult to maintain quality, Kirsanov said. However, over the past two years, RFC has been working to establish relations with Russian major retailers to give it greater control over the whole supply chain, from producing seafood at sea or onshore to delivery to shops allows the company to be able to ensure its products are of the highest quality, Kirsanov said.
Photo courtesy of Russian Fishery Company
