MZK Export (formerly Viterra Rus)

Performance indicators

2022: Revenue growth by 15.7% to RUB 80.7 billion

The Russian division of the international grain trader Viterra - Viterra Rus LLC, in 2022 increased revenue by 15.7% compared to the previous year, to 80.7 billion rubles. This is stated in the statements that the company disclosed at the end of March 2023.

Net profit of Viterra Rus LLC in 2022 amounted to 816.6 million rubles, which is slightly less than a year ago (853.7 million rubles). Gross profit increased to 28.1 billion from 16.6 billion rubles.

Net profit of Viterra Rus LLC in 2022 amounted to 816.6 million rubles

As of the end of 2022, Viterra Rus is the fourth largest exporter of Russian grain. The main share of revenue in 2022 fell on the sale of products for export: it reached 78.2 billion rubles against 64.4 billion rubles in 2021. The company sold wheat, barley, corn, peas, sunflower oil, oilseed flax.

In 2022, Viterra Rus acquired Antex + LLC for 66.875 million rubles, the report also said. According to the Unified State Register of Legal Entities (USRUL), earlier this LLC, engaged in the wholesale trade in sugar, chocolate and sugar confectionery, directly belonged to Viterra.

Viterra, together with Demetra-Holding"," operates a terminal in the port of Taman with a capacity of 5 million tons of grain per year, and also owns a terminal Rostov-on-Don of 1.5 million tons per year. In December 2022, Nikolai Demyanov, Managing Director of Viterra Rus LLC, said that the company adheres to a previously expressed position on the importance of ensuring food security in the world, continues to export from the Russian Federation and does not intend to sell assets. So he reacted to the letter of the general director "" to the UralChem Dmitry Konyaev president, in RUSSIAN FEDERATION Vladimir Putin which the first announced plans to acquire Russian assets of Viterra.^[1]

History

2023

Agribusiness Management buys Viterra business in Russia

The owner of the Russian subsidiary of the Canadian grain trader Viterra was the Agribusiness Management company. This became known on October 23, 2023, 2023.

On this day, the Interfax agency, citing data from the Unified State Register of Legal Entities (USRUL), reported that Viterra Rus, which had been operating as MZK export for the past few months, had transferred to Asset Management LLC, created in May 2022 by Managing Director of MZK Export Nikolai Demyanov. 35% each belong to Demyanov and Dmitry Kondakov. Sergey Dolgov, Igor Zen and Vladimir Kharitonov own 10% each. 100% in Rostov KHP LLC and 0.1% in Antex + also came under the control of the new owner.

The owner of the Russian subsidiary of the Canadian grain trader Viterra was the Agribusiness Management company

According to the SPARK-Interfax analytical system, Kondakov is the beneficiary of Trust Management. Dolgov at one time headed the MZK Export division in Krasnodar, Zen was a co-owner of several grain companies, Kharitonov is a beneficiary of Trust Consulting LLC, Interfax reports.

Global grain traders - Cargill, Viterra, Louis Dreyfus - from July 1, 2023 stopped exporting Russian grain and left the Russian market. The Ministry of Agriculture of the Russian Federation that they are beginning to work out the issues of transferring their business to new owners, traders informed back in the spring of 2023.

Viterra is one of the largest Western suppliers of Russian grain. The company was engaged in the sale of Russian wheat, barley, corn, peas and sunflower oil. MZK (International Grain Company) is the first name under which Viterra Rus began trading grain in Russia in 2004 as a subsidiary of Glencore.^[2]

Continued work in Russia under a new name

The Russian office of grain trader Viterra, one of the largest players in the world market, will continue to work under a new name - MZK Export. This became known on May 18, 2023.

According to Kommersant, citing data from the SPARK-Interfax system and the Whois service, in May 2023 Viterra Rus registered a series of domains named MZK-Export, MZK-Trade, MZK-Rus, etc. According to the publication, the company transfers its operating business in the Russian Federation to local management. MZK Export can also maintain control over the terminal in Rostov-on-Don with a capacity of up to 1.5 million tons of grain per year and part of the 50% share in the Taman terminal with a capacity of 5.5 million tons of grain per year, they say. Another part of the stake in Taman can be sold to structures associated with Demetra Holding, which owns the remaining 50%.

Viterra will continue to work in Russia under a new name - "MZK Export"

In March 2023, it was reported that Viterra will stop exporting Russian grain from July 1, 2023. Then it was noted that management will study the possibility of transferring its business in the country to new owners, at present the details of the proposed transactions are being discussed. The Ministry of Agriculture confirmed the receipt of the letter and its content. According to the representative of the department, the export of Russian grain will not change, and all transshipment capacities will remain and continue to work.

According to market participants cited by the publication, in July 2022 - February 2023, Viterra Rus was the fourth exporter of grain from Russia, shipping about 3 million tons, which corresponds to about 9% of exports from the Russian Federation during this period. According to the interlocutor of the publication on the market, without the participation of the global office of Viterra "MZK Export" it will be more difficult to compete. With a decrease in the share in Taman, it is unlikely that it will be possible to exceed the previous volumes through this terminal, the source said.^[3]

2022: Continued grain exports from Russia

The international trader, backed by Canadian pension funds and Glencore, still exports large volumes of Russian grain while Russia is in a military conflict with Ukraine.

In the first few weeks of the new season, Viterra retained its position as the fourth exporter of wheat, corn and barley, following Russian traders. According to Logistic OS, the company shipped more than 850,000 tons of grain from the start of SWO on February 24, 2022 to July 2022.

2004-2021

Viterra Rus conducts its activities in the field of grain exports. Trading activities in the Russian grain market started in May 2004, when International Grain Company LLC (MZK) was registered. MZK has two main areas of work - export-import supplies of grain and providing grain to large consumers within the country (mill plants, feed mills).

Both directions are interconnected and determined by the market situation - with a high yield in the Russian Federation, export operations are most profitable "with medium and low - domestic trade and imports. The essence of the MZK's work is the collection of large commodity lots of grain of the quality required by consumers and their delivery to the consumer at the lowest costs and on time.

In May 2017, the name was changed to Glencore Agricalcher MZK LLC, which reflected participation in the agricultural sector of the business of the Glencore group.

After reforming and rebranding the group's agricultural business, the Russian company was renamed Viterra Rus LLC in June 2021.

Viterra Rus:

• supplies grain to 40 countries of the world;
• exports grain through terminals:
• in the deep-sea port of Taman, which has one of the largest granaries in Russia with a volume of 200 thousand tons and is able to export up to 5.0 million tons of grain per year;
• in the port of Rostov-on-Don, which has a one-time storage capacity of about 88 thousand tons, and is able to export up to 1.5 million tons of grain per year.
• has representative offices in the largest grain-producing regions of Russia: Krasnodar and Stavropol Territories, in Rostov, Voronezh and Saratov Regions, works with grain suppliers from most Russian regions.

The company employs more than three hundred employees with extensive experience in the grain market in all parts of the grain supply chain.

Viterra Rus is the founder of the Russian Union of Grain Exporters and is a member of its board, participates in the activities of other industry and public organizations, such as the Russian Grain Union, Business Russia, the Association of bona fide market participants in the agro-industrial complex. The company is a member of the Charter in the field of agricultural turnover.

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