Cargill, Minneapolis, opened a $40 million chicken processing facility at its complex in Efremov, Russia, located 300 kilometers south of Moscow. The facility, which marks Cargill's first primary chicken processing operations in Russia, will predominantly supply McDonald's restaurants in Russia with high-quality Chicken McNuggets as well as other chicken products.

"Cargill has had a strong business relationship with McDonald's for many years, and when sourcing locally became a key requirement for McDonald's in Russia, we were pleased to be able to work together and help them find a solution," says Jeremy Graves, general manager, Cargill Meats Europe. "Our processing plant and our joint efforts to build a sustainable local supply chain is yet another example of the ongoing collaboration between our two companies."

"We are pleased that Cargill, as one of the global food industry leaders, is producing chicken products for the consumers of McDonald's products in Russia,” says Irina Korshunova, supply chain and quality assurance director East division and Russia at McDonalds. “From the time we decided to enter the Russian market, we started developing a local producers' network with Cargill. We are confident that the successful partnership between McDonald's and Cargill will continue to thrive with poultry production in Russia."

The facility, which employs more than 140 local staff, has the capacity to produce 18,000 metric tons per annum of high-quality further processing chicken products. Cargill's operations in Efremov include a corn and wheat sweeteners plant; a vegetable oil refinery and bottling facility; a malt plant and an animal feed mill. Cargill's vegetable oil refinery already supplies oil to McDonald's restaurants in Russia and now oil is also being used in the poultry production process for the nuggets and patties.