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IKAR in Mass Media

Greenhouse business: a new major player is preparing to enter the vegetable production market

Will this help curb price increases and why is this business interesting for retail

Retailers are increasingly interested in growing cucumbers and tomatoes: a new major player may soon appear on the market, Izvestia found out. Lenta can invest in the development of greenhouses, previously the Magnit retail chain was actively invested in this segment. The interest of retail companies in this business is related to its marginality and sustainability. The emergence of a new player can affect the price situation of vegetables and help to contain the cost increase. From the end of December to the beginning of February, according to Rosstat, the retail price of cucumbers increased almost 1.5 times. Why the greenhouse business is becoming attractive to large retailers is in the Izvestia article.

Why do merchants go to greenhouses

The Lenta Group (part of Alexey Mordashov's Severgroup) plans to start a greenhouse business, three sources familiar with its plans told Izvestia. She was interested in acquiring existing industrial greenhouses, one of them said. The interlocutors did not specify how much money the retailer intends to spend on the development of this business and which objects are of interest to it. Representatives of both groups declined to comment to Izvestia.

The main crops grown indoors are tomatoes and cucumbers, said Dmitry Rylko, Director General of the Institute for Agricultural Market Studies (ICAR). According to preliminary data from the Ministry of Agriculture, farmers harvested 1.6 million tons of greenhouse vegetables in 2025, his representative told Izvestia. This corresponds to the level of 2024, he said.

Entering the market of a non-core investor will reduce the cost of production of tomatoes and cucumbers by 10-15% due to the introduction of Severgroup management and technological solutions from the industry, believes a top manager of a large agricultural holding. This practice, in his opinion, will help to stabilize the pricing of these crops.

According to Rosstat, from the end of December to February 2, the cost of cucumbers increased by 43%, and in the week from February 3 to February 9 — by 5.2%. Tomatoes have risen in price by 22% over the same period. One of the reasons for the cost increase could be high demand, Georgy Ostapkovich, research director of the HSE Center for Market Research, told Izvestia earlier. Against the background of rising prices, the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) appealed to the largest producers of protected soil vegetables with a request to explain the pricing of cucumbers, Izvestia wrote.

Lenta became the second major retailer to show interest in the greenhouse business. Currently, only Magnit has its own greenhouse complexes among federal retail chains — they are located in the Krasnodar Territory and the Belgorod Region. Since 2018, the company has invested at least 13 billion rubles in the development of greenhouses in the Krasnodar Territory, they reported. By the end of 2025, the retailer's greenhouse vegetable harvest exceeded 60 thousand tons, which is only slightly higher than the level of 2024, a representative of the chain said. Izvestia also sent a request to X5 Group (Pyaterochka and Perekrestok networks).

Russian retailers are expanding their business in vegetable production amid stable consumer demand, Vyacheslav Berdnikov, head of Sovcombank's public equity analysis department, told Izvestia. The fruit and vegetable category for retailers is one of the key drivers of traffic, the expert noted. According to him, in-house production allows companies to solve three main tasks: to guarantee the stability of supplies, control the quality and cost of products, and develop a line of their own brand (STM) in the fresh segment.

Difficult greenhouse growth conditions

This market has good margins and stability, Dmitry Rylko noted. The EBITDA margin (reflecting earnings before interest, taxes, and depreciation) of efficient greenhouse complexes can reach 20-25%, Vyacheslav Berdnikov added.

At the same time, the greenhouse business has serious operational risks.: It requires deep agronomic expertise, which cannot be replaced by steel or retail, said Ilya Bereznyuk, Managing Partner of Agro and Food Communications. The main investments go into engineering systems, glazing and automation, Vyacheslav Berdnikov listed. According to him, the payback period for the construction of greenhouse facilities from scratch with the current margin is 8-10 years. This makes the purchase of ready-made assets (M&A) more financially attractive, because it reduces the payback period to 5-6 years due to a discount on acquisition, he noted. At the same time, the purchase of existing greenhouses avoids a multi-year investment cycle, Ilya Bereznyuk agrees.

The average cost of building 1 hectare of an industrial greenhouse complex with basic microclimate systems in Russia in 2025 cost an investor an average of 100-150 million rubles, he estimated. The capital cost of creating fourth-generation greenhouses is estimated at about 120 million rubles per hectare, Vyacheslav Berdnikov noted. At the same time, according to him, difficulties remain with the supply of high—tech equipment - climate control and lighting systems, previously imported from the Netherlands and Belgium. As a result, the actual cost of implementing such projects may be significantly higher, Ilya Bereznyuk added.

At the beginning of February 2026, there are more than 340 greenhouses in the country with a total area of about 3.3 thousand hectares in 76 regions, a representative of the Ministry of Agriculture told Izvestia. By 2028, the industry's land bank may grow by 9%, to 3.6 thousand hectares, ICAR predicts. A number of support measures contribute to the growth, said a representative of the ministry. According to him, in 2025, the coefficient for calculating subsidies to reimburse part of the cost of producing vegetables from protected soil was increased. The authorities have also provided an additional boost factor during the peak price of vegetables, the source said.

By the end of 2025, sales of vegetables in stores increased by 12.1% year-on—year in money, and by 41.2% in the online segment, according to data from the Nielsen analytical company. The absolute values were not disclosed there. In physical terms, the growth of the category of these products in 2026 will be 1-3%, predicts Ilya Bereznyuk.

https://iz.ru/

18 февраля 2026 года

Source: Izvestia  |  #vegetables   |  Comments: 0   Views: 20

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