On May 28, 2020, experts in the agri-food industry discussed scenarios for the development of the market for starch products at the webinar "Market for starch products in a pandemic", organized by Association Roskrakhmalpatoka. The event was attended by 94 people from Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Belarus - representatives of starch and food industry companies, equipment suppliers, industry associations, and transport companies.
The agri-food industry is less affected by the crisis because basic commodities are least affected by declining purchasing power. Despite the decrease in indicators during the period of restrictive measures, annual forecasts remain unchanged. “The demand crisis in 2020 is much stronger than in previous years. The food sector and agriculture at the beginning of the crisis remain inert in terms of production and demand. The collapse in demand at HoReCa is explained by the low share of the services sector in Russia and the minimal level of food consumption outside the home. The forecasts for this year are not being revised, but the prospects for the next years are worrying. ”- says Darya Snitko, head of the Center for Economic Forecasting, Gazprombank JSC.
Pavel Paramonov, Market Research Manager, Cargill LLC, spoke about the market prospects: “Industry performance can be improved by exporting starch products. The production of ethanol, biofuels and biopolymers can solve the problem of loading excess capacity, subject to simplification of state regulation and state support. Moreover, at the moment, the modernization of existing industries is economically preferable to the construction of new ones. ”
Eugene Child, a representative of SiccaDania in Eastern Europe, listed the main conditions for the successful implementation of projects for the production of potato starch: “Previously, starch plants were considered as a way to process substandard potatoes. Therefore, enterprises were built with low productivity, which could not process potato juice and pulp. As a result, such plants had problems with waste, caused damage to the environment, and their work was accompanied by complaints from the local population.
A modern starch plant must have waste processing lines - this will not only solve the problem of environmental friendliness of production, but also receive additional products and increase profitability.
In order for such a production complex to be profitable, the processing of significant volumes of potatoes is required. And accordingly, significant investment.
You also need to pay serious attention to the raw material base, since the success of the project requires the plant to be supplied with raw materials in sufficient quantities. Today many European factories process technical varieties (average starch content from 18-19%). Also, the traditional scheme of work, when the shareholders of the plant include farmers who grow potatoes for the plant. The shareholder farmer receives payment not only for the delivered potatoes, but also dividends based on the company's performance. Farmers benefit from growing potatoes for processing because they do not need to worry about the presentation of the potato and its marketing. For this, the farmer does not need to deal with sorting, rejecting, washing and packing potatoes. Also, the farmer is directly interested in the development of the plant, increasing the efficiency of production and the release of new products (for example, dietary fiber, modified starch).
The partners of the event were the Europac transport and logistics company and the Simbio company (specializing in biotechnological solutions for enterprises for the deep processing of raw materials of plant and animal origin).
“Despite the current situation, enterprises in the starch industry did not stop their work. Obviously, in today's conditions it is much more difficult and risky to maintain production capacities. The webinar of the Association "Roscrahmalpatoka" aims to create information support for both manufacturers of starch products and related activities in this industry. The company "Symbio", developing for more than 25 years biotechnology as the basis of production processes in the food industry, supports the initiative of the Association and is making efforts to further develop the deep processing of grain in Russia ", - Pavel Galimkhanov, Director of the Enzyme Technologies Group, commented on the event.
Europack CEO Ludwig Tarkhanyan presented the logistic solutions for the transportation of starch syrup: “Since March of this year, under the conditions of a self-isolation regime and restrictions introduced in many regions of Russia, containerization of cargo transportation has become especially urgent, as it allows for uninterrupted and prompt delivery of door-to-door products. In the current situation of increasing exports of molasses and a chronic shortage of transport for its transportation, flexitanks are a good alternative. They make it possible to send cargo in small batches to anywhere in the world to the end customer, while there is no dependence on the transshipment infrastructure of ports and terminals. To maintain the quality of molasses in flexitanks, heating mats are used. ”
President of the Roskrakhmalpatok Association Oleg Radin summed up the meeting: “The webinar took the form of an active discussion. We managed to gather a unique number of specialists on one site. We are very pleased with the results of the event and plan to hold it regularly. ”
Source: Association Roskrakhmalpatoka
About the Association: The Association of Russian manufacturers of starch and syrup products is a professional non-profit organization that promotes the strengthening and development of domestic production of starch products, advocating for the protection of the domestic market from unequal competition with foreign suppliers. The association was founded in 1998 and currently unites the largest enterprises in the industry, providing about 80% of the domestic production of starch, glucose syrups and amino acids.