Management of the city's Central Market will be entrusted to the ten largest agricultural producers in the region

The new Central Market of Voronezh will be managed by a cooperative consisting of at least 10 largest farmers in the region. As regional Duma deputy, one of the region’s successful agricultural producers, Alexander Knyazev, reported at a recent meeting with Acting Governor Alexei Gordeev, the entrance fee to the cooperative will be 7 million rubles. Among those that have “confirmed their presence” on the market are such companies as Zarechnoye, Agroeko and Ryaba. Analysts note that the chosen form of facility management “theoretically makes it possible to reduce costs” and create a large special trading platform.

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Photo: Kommersant / Oleg Kharseev

During a recent meeting with the acting Voronezh governor Alexei Gordeev, the form of the organizational and legal structure of the Central Market and the participation of local agricultural producers in its activities were discussed. According to the press service of the regional government, “as previously planned, the cooperative will manage the market and ensure the supply of quality products.” Its composition should soon be determined by an initiative group created on behalf of the head of the region, headed by the head of the peasant farm “IP Knyazev”, regional Duma deputy Alexander Knyazev.

According to Mr. Knyazev, “any agricultural producer in the region can join the established cooperative, subject to making an entrance fee to the society’s savings account in the amount of 7 million rubles.” The funds will also be used to purchase the necessary commercial equipment. To date, 10 large farmers in the region, as Alexander Knyazev said, have already confirmed their presence in the cooperative. “In addition, Voronezh residents who have not joined the cooperative will be able to sell their products grown on their personal gardens and farm plots at the Central Market. The cooperators themselves plan to purchase imported vegetables and fruits, including exotic ones,” the press service added. Alexey Gordeev demanded that the organization’s participants ensure “optimally low” prices at the Central Market and eliminate “various kinds of “spacers”” for agricultural producers in the region.

As Anatoly Spivakov, acting deputy chairman of the regional government and head of the department of agricultural policy, explained to Kommersant yesterday, those large agricultural producers who wish to pay a fee to form an enterprise will participate in the management of the Central Market “by agreement with the regional government and the mayor’s office of Voronezh.” “We invited about ten large farms of various profiles; there may be more willing, but obviously not many. Firstly, the entrance fee has been determined, and secondly, everyone sees that the task has been set for the cooperative - not so much to chase profit, but to sell high-quality Voronezh products to the townspeople.”

Let us remind you that OJSC “Central Market” (the main owners are the regional government and the mayor’s office of Voronezh), together with CJSC “FC “Axioma”” of State Duma deputy Sergei Zhuravlev, are erecting a new building of the enterprise with a total area of more than 21 thousand square meters. m, not counting two floors of underground parking (which should subsequently go to Axiom). The total cost of the project is about 1.5 billion rubles.

As Kommersant learned, the “10 large farmers of the region” who will begin to form the Central Market cooperative include: Ostrogozhsksadpitomnik CJSC and Verkhnekhavsky Holding, Ecoproduct LLC and Logus-Agro Group of Companies, Zarechnoye LLC "and ZAO Agrokombinat "Nikolaevsky", LLC "APK Agroeko" and IP Knyazev A.V., LLC "Ryaba" and LLC "Olsam". Most of the listed companies refused to comment in detail on their participation in the cooperative, citing the importance of the issue for the regional authorities and the fact that “there are still a number of controversial issues on which clarity will come within a week.”

In addition, Kommersant’s interlocutors explained that the purchase of equipment for the Central Market requires a minimum of 50 million rubles, based on this amount, the entry fee was calculated: “This is another kind of incentive for effective project management, because otherwise we will need this equipment there will be nowhere to go.” The cooperative members expect to conclude a property lease agreement with Central Market OJSC (“we want for ten years, but we understand that the owner still needs to look at our efficiency, so the lease term is still an open question”). Members of the cooperative have no doubt that the market will be managed after the completion of construction (planned for August 1) by a director selected from four to five applicants by “internal voting”: “According to the charter, the contract with the director is concluded for one year; in case of successful work, it is simply extended” .

“Large agricultural producers in the region, by joining the cooperative, will receive an excellent sales market in every sense,” says Eduard Krasnov, chairman of the board of directors and co-owner of Olsam OJSC. In his opinion, farms that usually trade at wholesale prices will have the opportunity to display their products at retail, “in the best places and in the required quantities.”

Another possible cooperative participant suggested that the market’s annual revenue would be 120–130 million rubles. per year, from which net profit will be formed - at the level of 15-20 million rubles. “In this case, the investments of 10 large farmers will pay off in five years,” explained Kommersant’s interlocutor. “We must understand that the task set by the governor, to help local enterprises, is not entirely combined with quick payback. Indeed, in this case, the construction of a new facility itself will take 25 years. If desired, the funds could be returned in seven to ten years, but we would have to forget about the development of Voronezh producers, selling oranges and pineapples.”

Maxim Klyagin, an analyst at Finam Management, suggested that the introduction of a specific form of market management is “a largely forced step.” It is dictated, on the one hand, by the restrictions that small agro-industrial companies face in the retail segment, and on the other, by the lack of investment resources. “Collective financing and a cooperative form of management of such an object theoretically make it possible to reduce costs and create a large special site with a wide range of agricultural products,” the expert added.

Andrey Tsvetkov, Ulyana Larionova

They will make it in Voronezh