Cherkizovo Group (Petelinka and Cherkizovo brands), Russia’s largest meat producer, has partnered with Cargill China and COFCO Meat in an effort to expand its range of exports and offer new poultry products to Chinese consumers. The company signed contracts for supplies of chicken breast fillets, thighs and hips and plans to leverage the new partners to sell its ready-to-cook products to large local retailers and restaurants.
At the China International Import Expo (CIIE) in Shanghai, one of the world’s major trade fairs, Cherkizovo Group signed poultry export contracts for more than USD 20 m. The largest deals were sealed with the nation’s largest agricultural companies Cargill China and COFCO Meat.
Cherkizovo Group launched poultry exports to China in spring, focusing mostly on China’s favourite chicken feet and wings. The new agreements will enable Cherkizovo to expand its offering with thighs, hips, breast fillets, and other products.
“Not only does China’s booming poultry market create a true win-win situation for us and our partners, it also lays a solid foundation for the two nations to step up their trade volumes,”
said Cherkizovo’s CEO Sergey Mikhailov, citing strong government support for Russian non-commodity exporters and commitment of the Russian Export Center as a key factor in striking deals with leading Chinese businesses.
“We are happy to see that joint efforts by the government and privately held companies to promote agricultural and poultry exports have already proved successful. A year ago, the first CIIE hosted the signing of a Russian–Chinese protocol, which marked the culmination of years of concerted activity to make Russian poultry products exportable to China. The multimillion-dollar contracts signed today by the largest agricultural companies of our nations are the logical next step that follows the protocol,”
commented Alexey Kozhevnikov, Senior Vice President at the Russian Export Center, a state-owned institution backing non-commodity exporters.
Cherkizovo and its Chinese partners hope that the deals will provide a springboard for strategic cooperation that goes beyond unprocessed meat exports and helps bring ready-to-cook chicken products to leading restaurants and retail chains.
