The launch of a new plant for primary processing of industrial hemp in the Ma’Ryzhany industrial park in Zhytomyr region is scheduled for March-April 2025, said Dmytro Kysylevsky, deputy chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Economic Development.
“The construction of a new plant at the industrial Ma’Rizhany has reached the final stage. We plan to launch production of natural fibers and fescue in March-April. The volume of investments in the first line of the project is about $25 million,” he wrote on Facebook on Monday after his visit to the IP.
He reminded that the equipment for the new plant was imported with a zero VAT rate and import duty.
“An attempt is being made in Riga to revive the entire industrial hemp processing industry. Fiber production is large-scale, but only the first stage of processing. The next stage is yarn production. It will also require an investment of about $25 million. If we talk about launching the production of hemp fabric, this will bring the total cost of the project to $100-120 million,” the MP said.
Kysylevsky noted that the management company Ma’Rizhany Hemp Company organized the cultivation and harvest of the first harvest of industrial hemp on the territory of 700 hectares on its own. Next year, it is planned to increase this area to 1200 hectares, as well as to involve another 500-600 hectares of Zhytomyr region farmers in the project.
“Although the cultivation of industrial hemp requires separate licensing and is under the scrutiny of law enforcement, it is highly profitable. And the fiber from the first harvest has already been contracted by almost 100% before the plant was launched,” Kisilevsky wrote.
According to him, buyers from France and Belgium came to Riga and saw the high quality of the raw materials.
“Fabric made from Ukrainian hemp will be used to make premium clothing from leading European designers. In general, the possibilities for production based on the processing of industrial hemp are very wide: bedding, ropes, sailcloth, tarpaulin, and even special paper for printing money,” the MP added.
It is expected that in the first year of operation, the new plant in Ryzhany will employ 200 residents of Zhytomyr region and process 4.5 thousand tons of raw materials. In the following years, the number of jobs will be 700, and the processing volume will be up to 12 thousand tons.
As reported, the Ma’Rizhany Industrial Park occupies 28 hectares, the territory of a former flax processing plant. It will become the first park in Europe for the primary processing of bast crops. It was included in the IP Register in August 2024.
