Association of Enterprises of Advanced Grain Processing On April 6, 2023, she held the VII international conference "ProStarch 2023: trends in the market for deep processing of grain." The ProStarch 2023 conference was held as part of the Ingredients and Additives exhibition.
The first session was devoted to global trends and their impact on the grain processing market. "It is important to note that the products of deep grain processing are of great importance for the production of a wide range of products, including confectionery and bakery products, meat and dairy products. In the Russian Federation, in recent years, the volume of processing of the agro-industrial complex has been growing. The availability of available raw materials creates a high potential for the development of the production of deep grain processing as a promising direction in the food and processing industries, which is very important in the current conditions.”, the Director of the Department of Food and Processing Industry of the Ministry of Agriculture of Russia wrote a welcoming speech to the conference participants V.S. Skvortsov.
Daria Tarasenko, Senior Analyst of the Center for Economic Forecasting of Gazprombank JSC, spoke on the topic: "The main trends in the development of the Russian economy in the new conditions." “More than a year has passed since the restrictions imposed by unfriendly countries. The dynamics of economic activity in Russia during this period was much better than expected, forecasts for economic growth over the next few years are increasingly being revised in a more positive direction. Nevertheless, in order to assess the sustainability of Russia's economic recovery, it is important to understand what structural changes are hidden behind the figures on the dynamics of the main macroeconomic indicators. It is important to understand what are the main drivers of economic growth now, which industries are priority in terms of budget support, and to what extent uncertainty in the global economy affects domestic performance,” - she said.
Miriam Morath, economist at the International Grains Council (Miriam Morath, Economist, International Grains Council) made an online presentation: "Prospects for world grain markets in 2023/24". Miriam predicts the following: “Total global grain production is projected to rise 1% year-on-year to 2 million tonnes, driven primarily by an expected recovery in the corn crop. While this would increase overall supply, an increase in consumption could lead to a decrease in end-season stocks.”
Alexey Lomanov, Deputy Chairman of the Board of "Soyuzrossakhar" spoke on the topic: "On the situation on the sugar market in Russia." “Since 2010, 11 sugar factories have been closed in Russia due to negative financial results. Despite the reduction in the number of sugar factories, their current capacity allows processing all the sugar beet produced. In 2022, the domestic sugar market, due to the increase in production volumes, is in the balance of supply and demand. The available commodity stocks of sugar in the country make it possible to meet import demand from the EAEU countries, within the framework of the agreed sugar balance of the EAEU countries", - said Alexey Lomanov.
Anton Tikhonov, Executive Director of the Department of Industry and Technological Expertise of the DCB JSC "Rosselkhozbank" made a report on the topic: "Investment potential of the industry of deep grain processing". He spoke about the domestic market, world trade and Russia's share in world trade, promising markets and segments, business growth potential. Anton Tikhonov also presented bank financing tools for realizing the potential of the deep grain processing industry and highlighted the key risks of investing in new projects.
Pavel Papush, the project manager of the Firm "Vodocomfort" prepared a report: "Modern possibilities in maintenance and supply of technological equipment for enterprises of deep grain processing”. “Vodokomfort renders scheduled maintenance, repair, modernization and restoration services for all models of equipment: decanter centrifuges, plate heat exchangers, welded heat exchangers (Compabloc), high-speed separators. Repair and restoration of heat exchangers and decanter centrifuges is possible from various manufacturers: Alfa Laval, Hiller, Andritz, Flottweg, GEA, MI Swaco, Derrick”, Pavel Papush said.
At the second session, the market for value-added products was discussed, as well as the results of 2022 and the prospects for 2023.
Wei Xu-ming, Secretary General of China Starch Industry Association (Mr. Wei Xu-Ming, Secretary General of China Starch Industry Association) spoke about the market of starch and its derivatives in China in his video presentation. “In 2022, China's total starch production was 39,07 million tons, down 4% from 2021. The production volume of corn starch amounted to 37,81 million tons, which is 96,78% of the total starch production. The production volume of potato starch was 490 tons, which is 000% of the total. The output of tapioca starch was 1,2 tons, accounting for 200% of the total. The volume of wheat starch production amounted to 000 tons, which is 0,5% of the total search results, ”said about the starch market Wei Xu-ming.
Polina Semenova, Executive Director of the Union of Food Ingredients Producers, made a presentation: "Food Ingredients in the GEA Sector: Potential, Availability and Regulatory Features". “The ingredients market remains highly dependent on imports, including for the group of modified starches, despite the fact that domestic companies managed to increase the volume of domestic production and increase them from 10 thousand tons to 16 thousand tons, but only for a narrow range of food E- modifications. According to the results of 2022, imports for this group amounted to about 56 thousand tons, of which modifications E1422 (16 tons) and E1442 (12 tons) account for more than 50%. The main task facing the domestic market now is the development of the production of mono-ingredients and materials, which are so necessary in the basic technologies for the production of food products, feed and packaging, for example, organic acids, polyols (sugar alcohols), gums and celluloses, minor biologically active substances (vitamins, amino acids) , bioplastics, biosensors, etc. More than half of the range of food additives is produced using biotechnology, which is now the main vector and global driver for the development of the production of bioproducts and efficient processing of raw materials, and plays an important system-forming role, having a cross-cutting character for the manufacturing sector. The development of production is not particularly effective without the development of the areas of application of ingredients, research and development, the system of standardization and codification, research methods, without the implementation of measures to reduce barriers in the field of technical regulation, confirmation of compliance and procedures for bringing new products to the market, since "defects" in these areas of product turnover affect the operational activities of manufacturing companies by increasing costs”- Polina Semenova is convinced.
Pavel Paramonov, Market Research Manager at Cargill made an analysis of the starch industry in Russia. He comments on the situation in the market as follows: “Over the past decade, the starch industry has been developing at a rapid pace. Since 2020, growth has accelerated even more: helped by domestic demand, new products for Russia and an increase in starch exports. The future is unknown, but by understanding market trends and consumer preferences, we can try to predict it.”
Lyubov Savkina, CEO of the analytical company FEEDLOT, spoke about the key trends in the feed and feed ingredients market. “Last year, against the backdrop of sanctions and covid restrictions in China, the Russian feed additives market was noticeably in a fever due to the hasty restructuring of supply chains, a sharp change in the structure of purchases and price surges. The year ended with a sharp decline in the share of European suppliers and the dominance of China as a supplier of essential ingredients, which today exacerbates the issue of import dependence and ensuring our technological sovereignty”, Lyubov Savkina said.
Sofia Murzina, Head of Food Ingredients Market Research at the Center for Investment and Industrial Analysis, spoke on the following topic: "Russian Market of Vegetable Proteins: Trends and Prospects". She described the general situation in the Russian vegetable protein market, key market indicators in dynamics, the results of 2022 and new market conditions, trends in segments, and factors limiting the development of demand. Sofya Murzina also presented successful production facilities, investment projects, told what today hinders the development of domestic production, about state support measures, import substitution measures and economic support.
Svetlana Solovieva, deputy Director General for Development of Newbio LLC spoke about maltodextrins as universal components for food production. “Maltodextrins are a new class of starch products. These are universal, multifunctional components used in almost all branches of the food industry as a carbohydrate additive, thickener, structure former, shaping agent, sweetness regulator, anti-crystallizer. At the same time, maltodextrins are natural products of plant origin, have a high degree of good quality, do not have concomitant impurities and do not belong to the category of food additives (they do not have an E index),” she explained. Svetlana Solovieva spoke about their types and areas of use.
Vasily Byzov, director of the All-Russian Research Institute of Starch and Processing of Starch-Containing Raw Materials - a branch of the Federal State Budgetary Scientific Institution "FRC of Potato named after A.G. Lorch”, summed up the results of the second session. “Despite the sanctions policy of Western countries, the domestic industry of deep grain processing has adapted to the special working conditions and continues to develop, which indicates the stability of the economy of the main enterprises of the industry, and the challenge in the form of sanctions and restrictions can be converted into success”, Vasily Byzov said. He spoke about the questions the companies addressed to VNIIK, spoke about the research on screening of corn grain and about the breeding achievements of scientists.
The conference "ProStarch 2023" was attended by 50 people from Russia, USA, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan - representatives of VNIIK, International Grain Council, China Starch Producers Association, SPPI, "Center for Investment and Industrial Analysis", "Rustark" (KZ Gulkevichsky), NewBio, Cargill LLC, Rosselkhozbank JSC, Soyuzrossahar, Gazprombank JSC, Polymerfarb LLC, Food Formula LLC, ND-Technik LLC, AMIROST LLC, LLC “Aston Starch-Products”, LLC “Uralchem Innovation”, LLC “MEZ Yug Rusi”, Ingredion, LLC “Grain Ingredient”, LLC “SIMBIO”, LLC “Zoloto polii”, LLC firm “VODOCOMFORT”, Management company “G.P. Ai, Rasskazovskoye LLC, BAZU-Rus LLC, Puratos JSC, BioOperations LLP, VZK LLC, Bai Dyikan LLC, Kabardinskiy Starch Plant LLC, Rusagro Group of Companies LLC, LLC Zavkom-Engineering, LLC AMILKO, LLC Aeon Agro, Khobotovskoe Enterprise Starch Product, JSC Baltic Group, LLC Khimprom, LLC Rockwool, LLC Center for New Technologies, LLC Petmol.
"The situation in the global market continues to change. The growing energy, economic and food crises in the world open up opportunities for Russian producers of value-added products. The industry of grain and products of its processing remain strategically important, and are in a special account with the authorities. At the conference, we discussed the situation in the industry, the impact of trends on the industry of deep processing of agricultural raw materials, summed up the results of 2022 and outlined the prospects for work in the current year”, commented Oleg Radin, President of the Association of Deep Grain Processing Enterprises.