Holde Agri Invest builds new silo in Romania

With a storage capacity of 10,000 tonnes, the new 8M RON (US$1.7M) silo increased Holde’s total storage capacity to 25,000 tonnes, the company said on 31 August.

“Every year, we target the expansion of the operated farmland and the development of existing farms because agriculture in Romania is at a stage where it requires massive modernisation investments,” Holde Agri Invest CEO Liviu Zagan said.

“In the medium and long term, the entire storage project at Frumusani will bring several benefits, such as operational stability in relation to the choice of grain sale period and flexibility in negotiating with grain traders.”

Located in Buciumeni, the Frumusani silo comprised four cells each with a storage capacity of 2,500 tonnes. The construction was completed in 11 months, the company said.

The farm is close to national road number 4, facilitating access to the port of Constanța or Oltenita, and is easily accessible from Bucharest, where Holde is headquartered.

Holde said the Frumusani investment was the first phase of its project to develop storage capacities at the farm.

The second stage would involve building five new 500 tonne cells, installing a seed selection and treatment station, along with storage halls, the company said.

According to Holde’s 2022 Annual Report, at the end of 2022 the company operated a total land area of 12,300 ha divided into four core farms – Rosiori, Frumusani, Videle and Contest, of which 700ha is owned and 11,600ha leased. Holde also owns a 15,000-tonne capacity silo based within the Rosiori farm.

In 2022, the Holde portfolio farmed conventional wheat, rapeseed, sunflower, corn, peas and soyabeans, as well as organic wheat and sunflower.

In the 2021/2022 agricultural year, total harvests reached 48,062 tonnes, comprising 2,319 tonnes from organic crops (sunflower, wheat, peas) and the remainder from conventional crops (rapeseed, wheat, corn, sunflower, soyabeans).