The reserves of the food industry enterprises lie in the development of raw material zones - Nikolai Sherstnev
"The reserves of food enterprises lie in the development of raw material zones. This is a task for agriculture in the near future," Nikolai Sherstnev emphasized. As a positive example, he cited the Vitebsk Broiler Poultry Farm and the Moloko enterprise, which recently incorporated Rudakovo OJSC. In the near future, four integration structures based on processing enterprises will be established in the region. On 180 thousand hectares of agricultural land, they have already produced more than 20% of the region's gross agricultural output this year.
The governor also expressed confidence that only cooperation with processing enterprises and the consolidation of the agro-industrial complex will allow agricultural enterprises to operate efficiently. "Weak and small organizations are unpromising in the current conditions," he said. Touching upon the overall results of the region's agro-industrial complex, the chairman of the regional executive committee noted that, on the whole, agriculture accounts for more than 13% of the gross regional product.
Despite the difficult conditions of the current year, agricultural enterprises have ensured an increase in gross output, a positive development trend is observed, and net profit amounted to Br27 million. Sales profitability increased from 1.2% last year to 3.1% this year. The number of loss-making organizations decreased by 22%. Costs have been optimized.
In addition, the efficiency of the agro-industrial complex enterprises has increased. The volume of exports of food industry products is growing due to the sale of goods with higher added value. Shipments to six new countries have begun. The total map of external supplies of products includes 25 countries. "Food exports amounted to more than $235 million. This is one-third of the total export volume, excluding petrochemicals," Nikolai Sherstnev added.