The Italian Agriculture Minister, Mr. Maurizio Martina visits the Inalca plant in Moscow

PRESS RELEASE

Russia and Italy: synergies and opportunities in the agro-industrial chain

 The Italian Agriculture Minister, Mr. Maurizio Martina visits the Inalca plant in Moscow

Castelvetro di Modena/Moscow February 11th, 2016 - The Minister of Agriculture, Food and Forestry, Mr. Maurizio Martina, visited today the Inalca plant in Odintsovo, on the outskirts of Moscow, one of the most modern distribution platforms of food products in Russia with attached the largest hamburger production plant, opened by the Cremonini Group in 2010.

The visit to the plant was inserted among the official visits of the Italian ministerial mission, after the participation of Minister Martina to the important food fair ProdExpo and an official meeting with the Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation, Mr. Arkady Dvorkovich.

Inalca’s thirty years experience in Russia is increasingly appreciated by the Russian authorities, who identified in the Italian company an important partner for the future development of the livestock sector in the country.

"The Inalca model in Russia” – as Mr. Luigi Scordamaglia, Inalca’s CEO explained – “ is in fact an ideal example of synergy and complementarities between the agri-food sectors of the two countries. On the one hand Inalca operates in the distribution of food excellence Made in Italy by supplying every day thousands of Russian hotels and restaurants, and on the other the company has over the years invested significant resources in production facilities that permits the valorisation of the local livestock industry. The Russian Federation has now an enormous potential for agricultural production and Italy, for its part, with a food industry characterised by a level of technology and know-how among the highest in the world, is the ideal partner at this stage of modernisation in the agro-industrial chain, primarily through investments in the Russian regions that have a greater agricultural vocation. But now” - concluded Mr. Scordamaglia – “it's time to put an end to this useless and counterproductive system of sanctions and counter sanctions and the work that the Italian Government is doing towards such a scope is fundamental. We hope for more common sense from Brussels".

Cremonini operates in Russia since 1985 and over the years has developed a position of leadership in the distribution of food products to the foodservice industry. It is present with 6 modern distribution platforms in Moscow, Odintsovo, St. Petersburg, Rostov, Novosibirsk and Samara, where it distributes over 2,000 food products, including the excellences of Made in Italy (pasta, olive oil, tomato, etc.) to more than 2,500 customers including restaurants, hotels and large collectives.

Regarding production, in addition to the Odintsovo hamburger plant, Inalca, in 2014,  opened in the Orenburg region a slaughtering and processing plant for beef, equipped with the latest technology, to complete the chain. The plant, with a capacity of nearly 100,000 head per year, has laid the foundation for the development and consolidation of an integrated beef industry in Russia, including breeding, slaughtering, processing and meat distribution, following a successful model already applied by Inalca in Europe.

Inalca, a Cremonini Group company European leader in beef production and distribution of food products abroad, is one of the few Italian companies to oversee the entire production chain. The company in 2014 reported revenues of 1.49 billion Euro, of which 50% in export sales. It has an international presence with 11 production plants (6 of which in Italy, 2 in Russia, 2 in Angola, 1 in Algeria) and 21 logistic distribution platforms (6 in Russia, 4 in Angola, 3 in Algeria, 3 in Congo, 3 in the Democratic Republic of Congo, 1 in Mozambique, 1 in Ivory Coast). Inalca sells annually more than 500,000 tons of meat, produces 100,000 tons of hamburgers, 200 million boxes, with 7,200 product references and 3,000 employees. The company works with the brands Inalca, Montana, Italia Alimentari, Ibis and Cortebuona.

Contacts: Luca Macario, +39 059 754630, mob. + 39 335 7478179 luca.macario@cremonini.com