The company is to invest RUB 7.4 billion (US$ 237 mln) to build four pork farms up to 2015 and according to experts almost double the investment amount will go to the construction of another seven farms between 2015-2018, according to the Russian veterinary and food safety agency Rosselkhoznador.

By the time teh projects are completed, the company expects to have a six per cent share of the Russian pork market making it the largest foreign company in the Russian pig industry.

Currently the main asset of the Norwegian company in Russia is the large pig complex in the Nizhni Novgorod Region with the total number of 180,000 head of pigs.

The management of the RBPI Group is concluding negotiations with the government of the Nizhni Novgorod Region over the construction of another pig farm which will also have 180,000 pigs.

The project will be finished in the middle of 2013 and according to the approximate estimations of the regional Ministry of Agriculture the company will double its profit to reach almost RUB 3 billion.

Rosselkhoznador said that official projections show that the share of foreign companies in the Russian pork market will rapidly increase in the coming years.

"The Russian market currently is offering a higher level of prices for pork producers. The price for pork in half-carcases on average in Russia is more than double that of countries such as Germany, Denmark, France, Spain, Netherlands, USA, Canada," said the leading analyst of information and analytical agency IMIT Alexei Plugov.