The XXVI international food exhibition "Gulfood 2021" has finished in the United Arab Emirates

This year the largest food exhibition in the Middle East reunited 22 Russian companies, including “Molvest” Group of Companies, who brought several types of products to the shores of the Persian Gulf - dairy products, milk powder ingredients and animal feed, namely, dehydrated alfalfa.

Voronezh alfalfa is produced by a subdivision of Molvest Company – EcoKorm LLC. The site produces dehydrated alfalfa in granules (vitamin-herbal meal) and in bales. The capacity of the site built in 2017 is 15 tons of finished product per hour. According to Elena Ponomareva, Deputy General Director of “Molvest” Group of Companies, the annual volume of alfalfa depends on the area. In average, it is 8-10 thousand tons. First, the site supplies “Molvest” cows with vitamin and herbal meal. Commercial sales are also developing, including export. “We have already made some deliveries to European countries through traders. Now we are negotiating with China and Saudi Arabia, and we hope to find a new sales market in the United Arab Emirates.”

The export of Russian alfalfa is a rapidly developing sector. World hay export (both natural and artificial dehydration) is estimated at 2.5-3 billion USD/year. For natural hay, the annual trade is about 9.5 million tons. According to the USDA, in 2019 most of this volume (4.1 million tons) was supplied to the global market by the United States. Russia is still poorly represented among the exporters of this type of feed. Although it could potentially produce the entire volume of hay demanded by importers, says Sergey Panchuk, Head of the Association of Hay and Forage Manufacturers and Exporters, member of the executive committee of the European Grasslands Federation (EGF) with responsibility for Eastern European countries.

The main buyers of alfalfa on the world market are the countries of the Arab world: Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Qatar. Besides, this type of feed is purchased by China, Japan, Korea, Thailand, Vietnam, Iran and Pakistan.