Russian EcoFrio plans to start french fry production in 2013

The Russian company EcoFrio has announced that its new processing potato plant in Russia is expected to start production in autumn 2013. The plant will be located in the Bryansk area, 350 km from Moscow to the south west part of Russia close to Ukraine and Belarus.

The EcoFrio company is a young company founded in 2010. The company is led by Dmitry Zavgorodniy. His experience includes 8 years of top management at McCain Eastern Europe and 7 years with Mars in Russia.

The Bryansk-based potato-processing company has moved to the final stages of project work. Start of the construction is scheduled late spring 2012.

The production site includes a potato receiving area, processing lines for French fries and potato flakes, storage for frozen product and a waste water treatment facility. The highly automated plant is designed to run with a minimum of personnel. The new warehouse will be the highest automatic warehouse in Russia.

All project work of the production site and processing line is managed by top class European companies.

The production site will allow the installation of a second processing line.

The Bryansk area is considered by potato farmers as the best area for growing potato. This year the total potato crop in the area exceeded 1 million tons. Historically in the USSR Bryansk was the top producer of potato with an annual crop more than 1 million tons.

In the first stage the EcoFrio plant will produce 70.000 tons of French Fries and 3800 tons of flakes annually. The main markets would be the CIS countries. EcoFrio plans to launch its own brand and further grow its business with other frozen food categories.

The EcoFrio project is considered by the Russian government as an agro project of national interest. At the moment, 100% of French fries in Russia are imported from the EU, mostly from Poland.