Agrarians are equipping stores

The agricultural complex of the former head of the Ministry of Agriculture Alexander Tkachev, one of the largest producers of milk, meat and sugar, began looking for sales representatives for supplies to stores in the Zaporozhye and Kherson regions. Experts note the high demand potential in these regions, however, deliveries there are accompanied by serious risks, difficulties with calculations and expensive logistics.

Large producer of products Agrocomplex im. N. I. Tkacheva plans to develop distribution in the Zaporozhye and Kherson regions. This follows from the vacancies of sales representatives in the regions published in April in the profile of the agricultural complex on the HeadHunter portal.

The territory includes Melitopol, Akimovka, Priazovskoye, Skladovsk, Zhelezny Port, etc. The duties of candidates include finding customers, coordinating orders and shipments of goods, sales analytics, debt tracking, etc. The agricultural complex did not answer Kommersant’s questions.

Fall 2022 became known about the plans of the Crimean network PUD associated with the structures of Mr. Tkachev to open stores in the Kherson and Zaporozhye regions (see “Kommersant” dated September 8, 2022). But it has not been possible to find information about the launch of points since then. The vacancies of real estate search managers in the regions published in the PUD profile on the HeadHunter portal have been archived since the beginning of September. The PUD office did not provide a comment.

Mikhail Burmistrov, CEO of Infoline-Analytics, notes that opening own stores in the Zaporozhye and Kherson regions “may still be too risky given the continuation of hostilities.” Presence in the regions as a supplier “carries fewer risks,” the expert believes.

Ivan Babukhadze, director of the Union of Independent Networks of Russia, says that in regions such as the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics, “there are already quite large networks of their own, plus non-network trade is developed in new territories, so the interest of suppliers to work here is quite understandable.” The sales representative will just help to establish contacts with local operators, the expert believes. Competitors of the agricultural complex interviewed by Kommersant refused to discuss possible distribution in new regions.

Kommersant’s interlocutor in the alcohol market says that so far supplies to the Kherson and Zaporozhye regions may be similar to the logistics built since 2014 with the Donetsk and Luhansk republics. According to him, usually sellers themselves purchase products for cash at the enterprise and deliver them, or an intermediary is involved in the scheme, with whom they also work only on prepayment.

Large companies do not have direct shipments due to possible risks for business and barriers to bank payments, Kommersant sources say. In addition, one of Kommersant’s interlocutors adds, sending a truck from the center of the Russian Federation to new regions can cost four times more than to other regions of the country at comparable distances.

Mikhail Burmistrov notes that at the same time, products can be supplied to the markets of Zaporozhye and Kherson regions at rather high prices, and the potential for sales in the regions is huge. So, large-scale construction work is underway in Mariupol, people employed in which form additional demand, the expert explains.

The agricultural complex, adds Mr. Burmistrov, already has production facilities and well-established logistics in the Crimea. In 2022, the company managing the PUD network became the owner of the Crimean holding “Friendship of Peoples” with assets in poultry farming, pig farming, meat processing and gardening. And in 2023, it is planned to build a wholesale distribution center in Crimea to store up to 75,000 tons of products.

Anatoly Kostyrev, Alina Savitskaya