January 24 2008, 10:36

The construction of large greenhouse complex is planned in Krasnodarskiy kray

The agreement about the construction of the greenhouse complex in Kropotkin was signed yesterday by the local administration, Кrass GlasConstruktionen GmbH company (Germany) and "Stolyarovo" farm (Krasnodarskiy kray) in Krasnodar. The investments are estimated to the sum worth to €103 mln. The experts mention a high cost of electricity in the region, and also the labor deficit to be the main risks of the project.

Stanislav Stolyarov, the Chief of the farm informed "Kommersant" that the project implementation is planned for 2008-2010. The annual production capacity of the greenhouse complex should amount to 40,000 tons of greenhouse vegetables. There will be 48 hectares of the greenhouses constructed under technology of the German firm Кrass GlasConstruktionen GmbH. German company is supposed to be the contractor of the project. The volumes of investments are estimated to amount to €103 mln.

In line with the greenhouse complex Mr. Stolyarov intends to create "Teplichnik" cooperative (the process of state registration should be completed soon). The farmer forecasts that the cooperative will unite more than 700 private households in several municipal settlements of Krasnodarskiy kray and Adygeya region. Mr. Stolyarov informed "Kommersant" that the strategic goal of the project is the occupation of a considerable market share of fresh vegetable market in the region; and, the project is supposed to force imported products out of market. In perspective, "Stolyarovo" farm plans to create the own processing facility. Talking about the project financing, Stanislav Stolyarov informed about the plan to take a loan in one of German banks. One of large insurance companies of Germany will act as guarantor. Mr. Stolyarov made no comments about the details of the agreement and the names of the potential participants of the deal.

Alexey Antipov, General Director of "Baltimor" company (the company is constructing two greenhouse complexes for vegetable and flower production in Saint-Petersburg and Astrakhan for the total sum worth €100 mln. - "Kommersant") believes that a high cost of electricity is the main risk of the project in Krasnodarskiy kray. "Choosing for the plots for new greenhouse complexes, we disfavored Kuban region, because electricity costs twice more expensive there than in the neighboring regions", he explained.

Vladimir Plutenko, the Chief of "Tsemdolinskoye" collective farm (this farm earlier produced greenhouse vegetables; as of today, they have given up this business) told "Kommersant" that not more than three large greenhouse complexes are operating in the region; all the others switched to grain production or lands sales for construction purposes. To his opinion, this situation took place because of the high expenses for energy which influence significantly the production cost of the greenhouse products. And, most of agricultural producers lack large funds required for the greenhouse modernization. Also, he emphasized the risk of deficit of labor and absence of well-adjusted sales chain.

Vladislav Kochetkov, the analyst of "Finam" company considered the plans of the project authors to be difficult to implement: "The coordination of the activities of a large number of small farms supposes the creation of a large managing company; in its turn, such creation will lead to the increased expenses", the analyst thinks. "However, if one large farm manages to unite several dozens of small enterprises, this will be a serious player able to occupy strong positions in the region and compete for markets in the other regions". According to the data of Mr. Kochetkov, greenhouse business is one of the perspective trends of agricultural industry development - it performs the dynamics of 30-40% increase per year. "There are chances to get a loan on this basis, because we speak about rather moderate sum of money", Vladislav Kochetkov says.

Agvan Mikaelyan, General Director of "FinExpertise" company (Moscow) also supposed that the project had a chance to get a loan. "If the potential borrower has assets, manages well set up business and occupies a niche on market, the positive decision is possible when the problem is just marketing and allocation of funds flow". The expert supposed that German party is interested in the implementation of such kind of projects: "Possibly, Russian borrower will have to apply technologies and seeds of German firms, lease or purchase German equipment as a condition for loan granting", Agvan Mikaelyan thinks. "This way Germany finances the development of own production".