Seeds fell on oil soil – Kommersant

Among those who received quotas for importing sunflower seeds, rapeseed, and corn into Russia were new players in this market. The company of Rakhman Khalilov, the son of former vice-president of LUKOIL and Slavneft Iskender Khalilov, received significant volumes. The demand for imported hybrids in the Russian Federation is very high, but importers without experience will have to negotiate the sale of seeds with distributors of specialized players, experts say.

The structure of the owner of the oil cargo carrier Railgo, Rakhman Khalilov, the son of the former vice-president of LUKOIL and Slavneft, Iskender Khalilov, received quotas for importing seeds of some agricultural crops into the Russian Federation. This follows from the order of the Ministry of Agriculture published on February 15 on the distribution of quotas for the import of seeds from unfriendly countries until the end of 2024.

Rakhman Khalilov, according to the Unified State Register of Legal Entities, owns TK Becema LLC, which received quotas for the import of 3.8 thousand tons of seed potatoes, 102 tons of malting barley seeds, 676.3 tons of seed corn, 224.2 tons of rapeseed hybrids and 626 .8 tons of sunflower seeds and hybrids. As a Kommersant source in the market noted, LLC TD Intech, which received quotas and is owned by the general director of TC Betsema Evgeny Kornishin, may also be connected with Mr. Khalilov. The latter also received quotas as an individual entrepreneur.

Together, TD Intech and Evgeny Kornishin can import 7.6 thousand tons of seed potatoes, 204 tons of malting barley seeds, 1.35 thousand tons of corn seeds, 448.4 tons of rapeseed hybrids and 1.25 thousand tons by the end of the year. sunflower seeds and hybrids. Railgo did not answer Kommersant. Contacts of TC “Becema” and TD “Intech” could not be found.

In total, the Ministry of Agriculture of the Russian Federation distributed import quotas for 33.1 thousand tons of seeds. According to the ministry, quotas will take into account market needs, the volume of seed production and whether the supplier has a localization plan. Other large recipients of quotas include structures of the global companies Syngenta, KWS and the main sunflower producer in the Russian Federation, Bio-Ton.

As Kommersant’s interlocutor notes, TC “Becema” and TD “Intech” are unknown on the market. Iskender Khalilov is the founder of the Azerbaijani ISR ​​Holding with assets in the hotel sector, real estate, retail, logistics, etc. In the 2022 report of the Kuzbass Fuel Company, which mines coal in the Kemerovo region, the businessman is named as its co-owner. Also at the end of 2022 he owned the oil company Nobel Oil (see “Kommersant” dated April 26, 2023). Rakhman Khalilov, according to SPARK, also controls several companies created, possibly, for construction projects.

Sovecon director Andrei Sizov says that the sale of imported seed hybrids is a fairly profitable business. Thus, he points out, imported sunflower seeds have risen in price by 30–40% over the year. According to Mr. Sizov, companies that have not previously supplied seeds will need infrastructure to store volumes and will likely have to negotiate with existing players to sell planting material through existing distribution networks.

General Director of the Institute of Agricultural Market Studies Dmitry Rylko points out that the demand for imported hybrids in Russia, especially those with short growing seasons, remains very high. But, he adds, companies that have received a quota have very little time left to import seeds, and farmers have little time to obtain material before the start of the sowing campaign. In addition, Mr. Rylko notes, many companies, within the framework of quotas, may prefer to import maternal lines for growing hybrids in the Russian Federation for next year’s harvest.

Chairman of the Council of the National Seed Alliance Association Igor Lobach says that the quota for the import of sunflower seeds is calculated “close to existing demand,” and the production volume of corn seeds of 106 thousand tons has already exceeded the need for 80 thousand tons. Based on the results of 2022, the Ministry of Agriculture estimated the average level of provision of locally selected seeds at 60.3%; by 2030, according to the food security doctrine, the figure should reach 75%.

Anatoly Kostyrev