Igor Khudokormov

Igor Khudokormov
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Born	(1968-05-01) May 1, 1968 Penza
Nationality	Russian
Alma mater	Leningrad Railway University
Occupation	Company Founder

Igor Vyacheslavovich Khudokormov, the main shareholder of the Prodimex Group, one of the largest agricultural and sugar manufacturers in Russia was born on May 1, 1968 in Penza. In 1991 he graduated from Leningrad railway university. In 1992 he founded the Prodimex company where he remains the main shareholder.

Initially Prodimex operated as one of many distributors of the world's leading traders, such as ED&F Man, Marc Rich&Co (Glencore) and Cargill among others. Having developed a reputation in sugar wholesale trade, Khudokormov took a rather risky step at that time and brought the first ship with raw sugar to Ukraine for its further processing into white sugar and export to Russia. Cargill became the first supplier of raw sugar for Prodimex while Prodimex became the first CIS buyer of raw sugar for Cargill.

Financially it was a bold move for the company since the interest on loans was extremely high and any delay in the long chain (delivery of the vessel - unloading at the port - processing - shipment from Ukraine - sales in Russia) could make the whole project unprofitable and lead the company to insolvency. According to Khudokormov, all Prodimex employees were spending days and nights in Odessa between the port where the vessels were being unloaded and Odessa sugar refinery located in the vicinity. Luckily for the businessmen, the whole process was completed more rapidly than originally expected, the Russian market was favorable as well, and the banks considered the young company trustworthy. As a result the raw sugar processing in the Ukraine was then on steady stream. In 1997, with a volume more than 450,000 tons, Prodimex became the largest sugar importer in Russia comparing even with larger foreign holdings.

But at the end of 1997 a prohibitive duty was imposed on sugar imports from Ukraine, and Prodimex decided to relocate processing to Russian factories. Khudokormov recalls, that he had security concerns about processing at local plants. Unlike Ukraine, where the processing was carried out under customs supervision, the Russian plant could ship the sugar to the supplier at its discretion. But here, too, the young businessmen were lucky: their first processing partners, Uspensky and Izobilnensky sugar plants in the Krasnodar and Stavropol regions proved reliable. After initial successful partnership these plants became part of Prodimex Group. Following them, Khudokormov acquired Olkhovatsky and Pereleshinsky plants in Voronezh region and Zemetchinsky in Penza region at auction. From 1998 to 2005, the number of factories owned by the company reached 23, and the volume of annual raw sugar imports exceeded 1 million tons. Expanding his local business Khudokormov made steps to implement protective measures against import in order to switch to domestic raw materials. Meanwhile the company entered the agricultural sector by leasing farmland in Voronezh and Belgorod regions. Between 2000 and 2005 Prodimex formed a land bank in the proximity of 4 sugar plants selected for further expansion of modernization.

The modernization itself started in 2005 and in the first five years the capacity of 4 plants tripled. In 2011, the company launched Russia's first molasses desugarization plant, which extracted additional sugar from molasses and was comparable in capacity to minor sugar refinery. The modernization is on the way until now and the company allocates more than 50% of its profits for these purposes. By 2022, all sugar factories were equipped with automatic production control systems, workshops for drying and granulating beet pulp, drying and shipping defecation, making the production practically waste-free.

Significant resources were also invested in agriculture and within 20 years the company has formed an impressive arable land asset of more than 900 thousand hectares and became the second largest land owner in Russia according to Forbes The contours of all fields and all the machinery have been digitized and are being monitored in real time. The history of every field crop rotation, agricultural technologies used and yields are also recorded from the moment the area is enters the processing perimeter. The company has created its own GIS system based on satellite and drone photography which allows agronomists to identify and respond to problems in a timely manner, as well as predict crop plans more precisely. Research institutes working within the Prodimex Group are monitoring and studying the most advanced agricultural technologies, as well as testing unmanned machinery, including heavy specialized equipment. Since 2016, Prodimex has been deploying sustainability principles in its business processes. These were important steps in the Group’s efforts to reduce negative impact and ensure a healthy environment.

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