Opening of the first large-scale French fries production plant in Russia
A new potato processing plant was opened in the special Russian economic zone Lipetsk. The plant is expected to cover almost 100% of Russian import demands for French fries. This first Russian large-scale French fries production facility was built by a Joint Venture of the Russian Belaya Dacha Group and Lamb Weston / Meijer, a world leader in potato processing
The construction of this plant was subsidized by the Russian State Program for Agriculture Development. With the start of the production of French fries in the Lipetsk region, local production of frozen French fries is ensured and key customers can be supported in the rapidly growing Russian market. During the opening, the Minister highlighted the importance of this production facility, as it is another step towards meeting the Russian food demand through local production.
The total investment amounted to 8.7 billion Rubles (approximately 115 million Euros). Furthermore, 218 new jobs were created. By the end of 2019, the plant is expected to reach the full capacity of processing approximately 200 thousand tons of potatoes per year. The implemented production lines and technologies meet the highest auditing standards in the industry.
International cooperation
The development of the new potato processing plant is a cooperation between the Russian Belaya Dacha Group and Lamb Weston / Meijer. Belaya Dacha Group is the leading producer of ready-to-eat salads and vegetable products in Russia, celebrating its 100 years anniversary this year.
Rapidly growing Russian market
The first customer will be McDonald’s Corporation with whom they are excited to build a long term partnership for supplying French fries. The expectation is that other local foodservice and retail customers will follow.
In the 28 years of its presence, McDonald’s Russia has put much effort into developing a local supply chain of food, agriculture, and other products that meet world standards and that can substitute the import of goods.
Securing potato supply
To cover the plant’s need for the special variety of high-quality potatoes, Belaya Dacha has created a farmer school which is based on their own production farm in the Tambov region. This farm supplies the new plant with 30% of the total volume of potatoes and has its own advanced and innovative potato storage. The rest of the potatoes are purchased from local farmers through long-term supply contracts. During the last five years, the company’s agronomists have helped its growers to implement best practices regarding potato variety cultivation. As a result, the company achieved yields up to 50 tons per ha.
Source: LambWeston