Meat and dairy enterprises of the Vitebsk region will direct over Br100 billion to fixed capital in 2010.

February 2, Vitebsk / Olga Bogacheva - BELTA /. Enterprises of the Vitebsk concern "Meat and Dairy Products" plan to invest over Br100 billion in fixed assets in 2010. This was reported to a BELTA correspondent by the concern's General Director Viktor Slavetsky. The main part of the funds will be directed towards the acquisition of new technological equipment. For example, the Polotsk dairy plant plans to expand the production of curd desserts and start bottling milk in PET bottles. The Glubokoye dairy and canning plant intends to commission a line for the production of sterilized milk in aseptic packaging with a capacity of 7 thousand packages per hour, and OJSC "Moloko" plans to install a line for the production of yogurts. In addition, new workshops for processing whey will be built at the Verkhnedvinsk butter and cheese factory and the Senno branch of the Orsha dairy plant. A major project with an investment volume of 2.7 million euros is to be implemented at the Miory meat processing plant. A new cold storage facility will be built here, with a capacity to store 500 tons of products at a time. Commissioning is planned for the end of 2010 - early 2011. The launch of this facility will allow the enterprise to significantly improve the quality of manufactured products, reduce energy costs by more than 30%, and start producing chilled meat. Projects for production reconstruction aimed at increasing capacity and improving product quality are planned at the Glubokoye and Vitebsk meat processing plants and the Orsha meat canning plant. In addition, at the latter, it is planned to double the output of baby food, modernize the line for the production of canned meat, and install a new line for the production of semi-finished products with a long shelf life in vacuum packaging. The implementation of all measures will allow the concern's enterprises to increase the total volume of product output in 2010 by 13% compared to last year. A total of Br1.6 trillion worth of products are planned to be produced. In 2009, the concern produced products worth Br1.4 trillion, or 112% compared to the previous year. 739 thousand tons of milk and 87.6 thousand tons of livestock were processed (109.9% and 120.8% respectively). Investments in fixed assets amounted to about Br140 billion. Among the largest implemented projects are the reconstruction of the whole milk products workshop at the Postavy dairy plant, the cold supply system at the Lepel dairy and canning plant, the line for the production of extruded ice cream at OJSC "Orshasyrzavod", as well as the commissioning of a workshop for the production of sodium caseinate at OJSC "Moloko". In addition, at four enterprises in the dairy industry, capacities for cheese production have significantly increased, including at the Verkhnedvinsk butter and cheese factory, where a new workshop for the production of hard cheeses with a capacity of 20 tons per day has been commissioned and the construction of a whey drying workshop has begun. The concern includes four meat processing plants and eight dairy industry enterprises. -0-