Miratorg Holding agreed to purchase seed potato producer Baltic Seeds

ABH Miratorg, which is building a French fries plant with the fast food chain “Vkusno – period”, is increasing the supply of raw materials. The holding structure agreed to purchase the Kaliningrad-based Baltic Seeds complex, which was one of the top ten suppliers of seed potatoes in the Russian Federation. The location of the complex is favorable for production, but there may be difficulties with logistics, experts say.

In March 2024, the Government Commission for the Control of Foreign Investments allowed the structure of the Miratorg Agricultural Holding to acquire the Baltic Seeds producer of seed potatoes. This is stated in the reporting of Baltic Seeds LLC. The founders of the company are the Dutch Somers International BV, the Daleod Foundation and Belarusian citizen Leon Dominique Bouillon, the heir of Dominique Bouillon, who announced a number of projects in Kaliningrad. Miratorg declined to comment. Baltic Seeds and the Ministry of Finance, which oversees the work of the commission, did not respond to Kommersant.

The Kaliningrad company Baltic Seeds manages a complex with a capacity of 12.5 thousand tons, 3.5 thousand hectares are allocated for the project, according to the materials of the Union of Potato and Vegetable Market Participants. According to the association, in the 2022 season, based on the results, Baltic Seeds entered the top ten leaders in Russia in the certification of seed potatoes, having issued documents for 4 thousand tons of seeds.

In 2023, Miratorg collected 103 thousand tons of vegetables and potatoes and processed 52 thousand tons, the holding reported. As part of a joint venture with the fast food chain Vkusno-i tochka, Miratorg announced the launch of a plant in 2025 to produce up to 100 thousand tons of French fries per year, which may require 250 thousand tons of raw materials. And at the end of 2023, Miratorg announced that it plans to invest 1 billion rubles. in the selection of potato seeds in the Kaliningrad and Bryansk regions.

Executive Director of the Union of Potato and Vegetable Market Participants Alexey Krasilnikov says that the purchase of Baltic Seeds will allow Miratorg to reduce risks in connection with restrictions on seed imports imposed by the Ministry of Agriculture. For 2024, the import of potato seeds from unfriendly countries is limited to a quota of 16 thousand tons. Over the next three years, the volume of quotas is planned to be reduced as domestic production grows, said the head of the Ministry of Agriculture, Dmitry Patrushev.

According to Mr. Krasilnikov, the Baltic Seeds complex is distinguished by favorable natural and climatic conditions for the production of high-quality seed potatoes. But, he points out, the bottleneck may be the organization of supplies from the Kaliningrad region to other regions of the Russian Federation. Miratorg grows vegetables and potatoes in the Tula, Bryansk, Oryol regions and Stavropol Territory.

General Director of Growth Technologies Tamara Reshetnikova says that in standard potato varieties, imported seeds account for about 65%, and in varieties suitable for processing, the figure is close to 100%. The Baltic Seeds assortment included varieties for the production of chips and French fries, the government of the Kaliningrad region reported in 2022.

As Ms. Reshetnikova notes, selection is a multi-year process, but the desired varieties can be grown using imported pure lines. According to Alexey Krasilnikov’s calculations, a plant producing 100 thousand tons of French fries per year requires a harvest from about 6 thousand hectares, and for such an area it may require about 15 thousand tons. seeds

Anatoly Kostyrev