Le tensioni Russia/Ucraina (niente a che vedere con il latte....non aiutano). Nonostante cio' i dati appena pubblicati sono molto buoni.
Ekosem-Agrar AG successfully further
develops milk processing business unit
- Sales of dairy products sold increase by 76% to over 131,000 tonnes
- Above-average sales growth of more than 75% to just under EUR 80 million
- Presence in supermarkets, in the HoReCa segment and in online retail expanded
- Premium hard cheese "Dürr" on sale since October 2021
Walldorf, January 17, 2022 – Ekosem-Agrar AG, the German holding company of the EkoNiva Group, which focuses on milk production in Russia, successfully developed its still young Milk Processing business unit in the past financial year 2021. The volume of dairy products sold rose by 76% year-on-year to over 131,000 tonnes, and sales also recorded a disproportionate increase of more than 75% to just under EUR 80 million on the basis of the last forecast.
The portfolio now includes 71 products, including fresh milk in various fat levels, organic milk, UHT milk, drinking and organic yoghurts, desserts, kefir, sour cream, cottage cheese, butter, ice cream and cheese. These are sold under the umbrella brand EkoNiva or as private labels, especially in the European part of Russia and in Siberia. The share of sales with the EkoNiva brand has risen continuously in recent years and now stands at 77%.
With the largest federal retail chains in Russia, the group of companies was able to almost double its sales of dairy products. Sales with the Magnit retail chain, one of the country's leading retailers, increased sixfold, thanks to the expansion of the product portfolio and increased geographical presence. Sales in the supermarket chains Lenta, Perekrjostok (part of the X5 Retail Group) and Auchan also developed positively. In addition, EkoNiva dairy products are available in 37 of our own brand stores.
In the HoReCa segment (hotel/restaurant/café), the Ekosem-Agrar Group doubled the total number of its partners in 2021, with sales increasing significantly by around 330%. Since spring 2021, one of hoReCa's most important partners has been the fast food chain McDonald's, the leading system catering chain in Russia. Other important partners are the catering facilities of Sheremetyevo and Vnukovo airports (both Moscow) and Russia's largest airline, Aeroflot.
Another important sales channel for the group of companies is online trading, where additional platforms have been successively won as customers in the last two years. EkoNiva brand products can now be ordered through the delivery services Sbermarket and Sbermegamarket, Samokat, Delivery Club, igooods.ru, the online supermarket Perekrestok vprok (vprok.ru), Ozone and Ozon Express and Utkonos. Overall, sales via the online channels more than tripled in 2021.
Stefan Dürr, CEO of Ekosem-Agrar AG: "In milk processing, we have now reached the point where, thanks to the high demand for our products, our production capacities are fully utilized and we can concentrate on further increasing profitability with our own brand and selected private labels."
Sale of premium hard cheese "Dürr" started in autumn
In the fourth quarter of 2021, two hard cheese variants were added to the portfolio of the EkoNiva umbrella brand. Since October 2021, the six-month matured hard cheese, which was named after founder Stefan Dürr, has been available on the market. The high-quality premium cheese is produced in the company's own cheese factory in the Voronezh region. In the cheese dairy, 6 tons can be produced daily, of which 2 tons of hard cheese.
About Ekosem-Agrar
Ekosem-Agrar AG, Walldorf, is the German holding company of the EkoNiva Group, one of the largest Russian agricultural companies. With a herd of more than 216,000 cattle (including over 112,000 dairy cows) and a milk yield of around 3,100 tons of raw milk per day, the company is the largest milk producer in the country. The group controls an agricultural area of approximately 630,000 hectares and is also one of the leading seed producers in Russia. The founder and CEO of the company is Stefan Dürr, who has been active in Russian agriculture since the late 1980s and has decisively shaped its modernization over the past three decades. For his services to the german-Russian Agricultural Dialogue, he was awarded the Federal Cross of Merit in 2009. The group of companies is represented by approximately 12,000 employees in nine administrative areas in Russia. Ekosem-Agrar generated operating revenues of EUR 565 million and adjusted EBITDA of EUR 167 million in the 2019 financial year.