From the magazine: No. 4 2016
Category: Recycling
Semyon Ganich, General Director of Dry Food LLC
Every year, agricultural farms are faced with problems of storage and marketing of grown products. The implementation of non-standard solutions often causes particular difficulties. On some farms, up to 50% of the vegetable harvest is utilized.
Let's remember. The easiest way to preserve vegetables and fruits is dehydration or, in other words, drying. Many Soviet farms once operated small drying plants for processing non-standard products. Unfortunately, there is almost nothing left of the drying industry in the Russian Federation, except for the Institute of Canning and Drying Industry (with the exception of several small scattered workshops). But “a holy place is never empty.” This vacuum quickly began to be filled with imported products from China, India, Poland, etc. This means that there is a steady demand for dried vegetables in the Russian Federation.
The demand
The annual import of dried products into the Russian Federation, according to customs statistics, is 189 thousand tons. Where does this flow go?
A characteristic feature of the current moment is the rapid development of the public catering system. The number of restaurants, cafes, and various fast food chains is growing. Plus, catering for sanatorium-resort, medical, educational, industrial and other enterprises and organizations. And everywhere there is a need for dry vegetables.
Separately, it is worth mentioning the market for manufacturers of instant and instant food products. Sales of natural food concentrates and instant meals are carried out in the following areas:
- population;
- special consumers (law enforcement agencies, Ministry of Emergency Situations, Ministry of Defense, GUIN, etc.)
- public catering system, incl. social sphere (canteens of schools, kindergartens, universities, hospitals, etc.);
- food production (production of canned food, natural juices and drinks, products for athletes; baking, confectionery production, etc.);
- trading enterprises.
The level of demand for dry vegetables with such production volumes here is difficult to overestimate.
Can Russians “win” a niche from foreign suppliers? I am sure that domestic manufacturers had to face much more difficult tasks in the era of import substitution. In this case, everything is relatively simple: take it and have sushi!
Drying technology
There are several types of dehydration of high-moisture products: convective drying, vacuum, vacuum-sublimation, infrared, microwave drying.
The simplest and most common type is convective drying.
The following areas should be provided in the production workshop for this type of drying:
— for storing a certain supply of raw materials in order to organize the uninterrupted operation of processing production;
— preparing raw materials for processing (cleaning, cutting);
— directly drying compartment;
— places for warehousing and storage of finished products;
— auxiliary production areas.
This article does not aim to reveal all the technological details of production. But it is important to once again emphasize the simplicity of the recycling process.
The main raw materials of enterprises for drying fruits and vegetables are high-quality, but non-standard in appearance (size) remnants of products from warehouse and distribution centers. Of course, if you use your own crops, you have more options. For example, you can regulate the level of moisture in raw materials by choosing varieties with the highest dry matter content for planting. The higher the dry matter content, the greater the yield of the finished product and the more interesting the economics of production.
If you organize production based on purchased raw materials, you will have to adjust purchase prices depending on the quality of the initial products and the estimated productivity.
Project economics
The economics of drying are, of course, calculated individually. Much depends on the volume of production, the equipment used, the cost of raw materials and resources in a particular region.
There are many options for organizing production: mini-workshops with a capacity of 100 kg/hour for raw materials; medium capacity workshops – from 1 ton/hour; high-power workshops - 1,5-3 tons per hour of raw materials (this is the most cost-effective project). More productive enterprises require greater costs for transport and warehouse logistics. Process where you grow.
As practice shows, with proper organization of work, the products of both large and small enterprises are quite competitive in price.
Although you can’t focus only on low cost. There are cases when an enterprise, having saved on some type of equipment or technology, in fact receives a product that is not in demand on the market.
Let me give you an example (without the name of the company). Company X purchased, although not new, a European-made drying unit that had good technical characteristics. I decided to postpone the purchase of a vegetable cutter. As a result, the organoleptic characteristics of the finished product comply with GOST standards, and the torn shape of the cut does not satisfy any of the clients.
The cause of many serious problems when organizing a workshop is neglect of recommended technologies. Excessive frugality at the stage of formation of production lines is a genetic error at the input. Of course, everything depends on capabilities; we are forced to work in conditions of limited resources. But it is better to choose a line with lower productivity, but with balanced production areas and high-quality equipment.
Another difficulty is the selection of equipment for processing. There are catastrophically few offers on the Russian market. When implementing projects to organize drying production, we are forced to collect, like beads into beads, equipment from different manufacturers and different countries. And create on this basis a unified mechanism for a continuous process.
When deciding to organize a drying production, ask yourself the first questions:
- What resources do I already have (or are available): premises, gas, water supply and sewerage, electricity?
- What raw materials are available (own or purchased) within a 200 km radius?
- What budget can I provide for organizing production?
- In what period of time do I want to implement my project?
After answering these questions, you can begin negotiations either with equipment suppliers or with specialists from engineering companies specializing in this industry.
Separately, about carrots
Carrots today are one of the most common vegetable crops in Russia. In conditions of increasing competition for consumers, stores and chains offer new products: on the shelves you can easily find washed, boiled carrots, etc. At the same time, on the one hand, the selling price of the product increases, but, on the other, the requirements for suppliers. Consumers are increasingly demanding “standard”, “beautiful” fruits. The buyer is less and less willing to purchase carrots that do not meet his requirements for size and appearance. As a result, most of the harvest (sometimes up to 50%) remains unclaimed. In parallel with this, the producer faces problems of price fluctuations and preservation of the grown crop. Thus, during the season, the cost of raw carrots decreases significantly, and in order to preserve the grown volumes for winter and spring, significant investments in storage are required. In addition, having preserved the harvest, producers may not receive the desired profit, faced with competitive offers from carrot suppliers from southern countries (Iran, Azerbaijan, etc.).
As a result, most producers, in order to somehow “recoup” the funds spent on growing and harvesting, are forced to “hand over” the crop to resellers at low prices.
How to maximize your profits and avoid price risks? Set up processing production, namely, start drying carrots.
Here are some advantages of this production: dried carrots do not require special storage and transportation conditions; they decrease in volume (up to 4 times) and weight (up to 8 times). Shelf life increases to 3 years, without the use of additional preservatives. There is always a steady demand for dried carrots; the main consumers are processing industries. To create an enterprise does not require significant investments, the payback period is 1-2 seasons.
Now, basically, dried carrots are imported by trading companies from abroad, although many consumers are interested in purchasing domestic products. This reduces their currency risks, transport and logistics costs, and import dependence of finished products.
Investment is an important factor for agricultural producers. Many large companies are now seriously thinking about investing their capital in agriculture. Enterprises that have mastered the processing of grown products, even in small volumes, receive significant advantages when choosing financing projects.