The founder and majority shareholder of the Ukrainian agricultural holding KSG Agro Serhiy Kasianov plans to build a pig-breeding complex in Kazakhstan for 200,000 heads, investments will amount to $50 million, the press service of the company told Interfax-Ukraine on Thursday.
“Kazakhstan has an advantageous geographical position, a land border with China. There is no African swine fever, which today is the main obstacle for many countries in the world to export pork to the Chinese market. There is a great interest of the government of Kazakhstan in supporting and creating conditions for such a project, but there are no people with experience in creating such enterprises from scratch. KSG Agro has both qualified personnel and experience in raising purebred pigs,” the press service of the company quoted Kasianov as saying.
The press service of the agricultural holding said that the Swiss companies participating in the project will supply technologies and animals of Swiss genetics to Kazakhstan. In particular, one of the investors is KS Genetic (Switzerland), which is chaired by Filippo Lombardi, ex-chairman of the Council of States of Switzerland.
The project of the livestock complex includes two sow farms with 4,000 sows each, which will make it possible to keep 200,000 heads of pigs per year, as well as a feed mill. The annual design production capacity is about 20,000 tonnes of meat.
According to Kasianov, the prospective markets for the products are China, Vietnam and South Korea.
The press service of KSG Agro said that it is not yet planned to attract credit or own funds of the Ukrainian agricultural holding for the implementation of the Kazakh project.
Currently, negotiations are underway with a number of potential investors on financial participation in the Kazakh project. The issue of attracting investors to the charter capital of KSG Agro for the development of the company’s meat processing facilities and its entry into new markets for finished products of the livestock industry is also being discussed.
