Private joint-stock company Enzim (Lviv) producing yeast, additives and mixtures for bakery, intends to invest over EUR10 million in the implementation of its strategic goal of becoming an international biotechnology company, the owner and CEO of the company Olena Vovk has said. “We plan to enter biotechnology and bio-products markets, which requires increasing production capacity,” she said in an interview with the Business weekly.
According to her, initially this expansion will take place on the basis of the Lviv production site. “However, we are also considering the possibility of acquiring external production sites: perhaps in Ukraine, or abroad. This is the next stage of our development,” Vovk said. She said that pursuing the goal, Enzim intends to produce natural ingredients first for the food industry and later for other industries. “The main competence of Enzim is fermentation processes and a yeast cell. On its basis it is possible to produce new bio-ingredients that will replace harmful chemical additives – flavor enhancers, preservatives or other substances that the civilized world refuses,” the company’s CEO said.
According to her, these bio solutions today are global trends and extend to the food, medical, cosmetic industries and agriculture, but their implementation requires significant investment in scientific development.
Vovk said that Enzim in 2016 created the R&D laboratory and attracted young scientists to cooperation.
Among the company’s other plans this year is investment of about EUR 2 million in the expansion of the capacity of the biological wastewater treatment complex to increase the production of its own biogas from the current 70% of its natural gas needs to 100% by the middle of 2019. The general director of Enzim said that the company managed to fully compensate for the cessation of deliveries to Russia, which accounted for about 10% of its production, thanks to entering other foreign markets. According to her, now the company delivers its products to 14 countries, exporting about 40% of its output. In particular, in recent years the company has increased its share of the Polish market to 10%.
