Kormotech, Ukraine’s largest manufacturer of cat and dog food, will implement a number of investment projects in Ukraine and Lithuania, where it has production facilities, as part of the development of its production capacities in 2023-2024, said the company’s beneficiary Rostyslav Vovk during a Business Breakfast with Forbes Ukraine on Wednesday.
According to him, Kormotech completed a 25% expansion of the company’s factory in Lithuania in the second quarter of 2023. In addition, in the third quarter, it will put into operation a new line at a factory in Lviv region for the production of wet fodder.
“EUR8m was invested in it (the new line at the factory in Lviv region), which allowed us to expand the plant’s production capacity by 65%. If earlier its capacity was 17,000 tons (of fodder – IF-U) per year, now it will be 27,000 tons,” he said.
In addition, according to the information of the company owner, at the end of 2023 Kormotech will start construction of a new factory in Lithuania, in which it will invest more than EUR60 mln.
“This factory will have the same capacity as our two factories in Ukraine. It will be plus 40 thousand tons. We should reach the launch of the first line in the middle of 2025,” Vovk emphasized.
UBC Group (Kharkiv), a commercial and industrial holding company operating in the field of refrigeration equipment and promotional products, has started construction of the second stage of a 5,000 sq m refrigeration equipment plant in Vinnytsia, according to Andriy Ocheretnyi, deputy mayor of Vinnytsia.
“This will create about 200 new jobs in Vinnytsia. The main work is scheduled for 2024. Currently, the project documentation is being finalized and preparations for the expert review are underway,” he wrote on Facebook.
In addition, a solar power plant with a capacity of 600 kW has been launched at the Green Cool plant. The solar panels were built in two stages. The first was completed in August and the second in September. In total, the company has installed 1080 solar panels.
“They will ensure the consumption of our own electrical installations and minimize the load on the power grid of the whole country. We are already talking about 100% replacement of our own consumption of electricity generated by renewable energy sources between April and September,” said Ocheretyanyi, adding that Green Cool sets “a great example of working towards green energy.”
The deputy mayor of Vinnytsia reminded that Green Cool, which operates on the basis of the Vinnytsia Refrigeration Engineering Cluster Industrial Park, produces refrigeration equipment that is exported to more than 20 countries. In 2023, the manufacturer expanded its sales geography and launched exports to North Africa and Latin America.
“This enterprise is one of the most powerful in the machine-building industry in the Vinnytsia community. More than 800 people work here and the staff will continue to expand,” the official added.
As reported, UBC Group’s business in 2022 decreased by about 43% due to the war. The group moved one of its plants from Kharkiv to Vinnytsia, which took about 400 vehicles. It was launched in May last year, but the number of employees there was about 300, compared to 1,000 in Kharkiv. The second plant in Kharkiv is gradually starting to operate, but the number of employees there has also decreased significantly.
For relocation, UBC Group built the first phase of its refrigeration equipment plant in Vinnytsia on an area of 20,000 square meters. Investments in its construction amounted to EUR 18 million. The first phase of the plant’s capacity to produce refrigerators with glass doors and ice cream chests was 60 thousand units per year.
During the construction phase, UBC Group announced a further expansion of the production building to 35 thousand square meters. The second stage will produce refrigerated cabinets, and with it, the group will reach a capacity of 150 thousand units per year. Capital investments in the second stage will amount to about EUR 10-12 million.
Prior to the Russian military invasion, UBC Group, which has been operating in the market for over 20 years and supplies products to 120 countries, had several divisions.
UBC Cool was engaged in the development and production of refrigeration equipment for beverages and food at the UBC Cool plant in Dergachi and the UBC Green Cool plant in Vinnytsia.
UBC Promo specialized in the development and production of promotional materials under the Promo brand at its plants in Kharkiv and Dergachi.
UBC Engineering was engaged in providing installation and commissioning services in the food and processing industry, UBC Service in providing maintenance and refurbishment services, UBC Distribution in selling products and services of the group of companies, UBC Armature in designing and installing equipment and processes, and distributing industrial valves and consumables.
UBC Group also owns the Ukrainian Beer Company (Kharkiv) and the Stargorod brewery restaurant chain in the CIS and Baltic countries.
The owner of UBC Group is Igor Humennyi.
Centravis Production Ukraine, a part of Centravis Ltd. holding company, took part in the construction of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) by shipping 1,300 meters of seamless stainless steel pipe for the reactor’s retro-reflectors.
According to the company’s press release on Friday, ITER is considered one of the most complex projects mankind is currently working on.
The project itself was started back in the 1980s. It was discussed and prepared for a long time. Finally, the reactor began to be built in 2020 in the south of France. The project involves 35 countries. The facility is planned to be launched in 2025, and it will reach full capacity in 2035.
According to the plan, ITER will produce clean energy through fusion.
Back in the 50s of the last century, scientists suggested that mankind is able to repeat the fusion of hydrogen isotope nuclei, as in the Sun, and get a lot of energy (1 g of thermonuclear fuel can replace 11 tons of coal).
In addition, no debris is left behind after fusion and it has low radioactivity. This type of plant can be four times more efficient than modern nuclear power plants and safer. But to get such energy, special conditions need to be created. In particular, the temperature is 10 times higher than in the core of the Sun.
“Projects like ITER are created for the future of mankind and it is an honor for us to join the cohort of its executors. We are working to ensure that there are more such orders,” said Centravis CEO Yuri Atanasov, who was quoted by the press service.
Earlier “Centravis” took part in the projects on construction of a new nuclear power plant Hinkly Point C in the UK, the largest fresh water storage in the UAE and others.
Centravis was founded in 2000 and is among the top ten largest seamless stainless steel pipe manufacturers in the world. Its main production facilities are located in Nikopol (Dnepropetrovsk region), in 2023 the company opened a branch in Uzhgorod.
The company employs more than 1400 people.
The geography of the company’s supplies exceeds 50 countries of the world. Currently “Centravis” has offices in the USA, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Poland, United Arab Emirates. “Centravis” cooperates with Benteler Automotive, Buhlmann Group, Webco – with different companies on different continents.
Centravis Ltd. holding was established on the basis of CJSC “Nikopol Stainless Pipe Plant”, service and trading companies of LLC “Production and Commercial Enterprise “YUVIS”. Its shareholders are members of the Atanasov family. Centravis Ltd. owns 100% of shares of Centravis Production Ukraine PJSC.
Ukraine’s Alfa Development Group is completing the construction of new warehouse real estate projects with a total area of about 244 thousand square meters, with commissioning scheduled for 2023-2024, said Maxim Onufrienko, CEO of the group.
According to him, the construction of the second and third phases of the Oleksandrivskyi logistics center (Chubynske village) with a total area of 115.2 thousand square meters is being completed in Kyiv region. Completion of the second stage (12.6 thousand square meters) is scheduled for October 2023, and the third stage (40.7 thousand square meters) – in March 2024.
“This is a multi-mode warehouse complex, which means that there is both freezing, refrigerators, and dry storage. I must say that we have already leased 50% of the second stage, scheduled for commissioning in October 2023, and signed contracts with customers. This confirms the growing demand for warehouse real estate in Kyiv,” Onufrienko said at RAU Expo 2023 in Kyiv on Tuesday.
Other projects in the Kyiv region, he said, include the Dudarkiv warehouse center with a total area of 45.5 thousand square meters, scheduled for commissioning in January 2024. About half of the first phase’s area (23.1 thousand square meters) has already been leased.
In addition, the construction of a logistics complex with a total area of 159.6 thousand square meters is underway in Chaiky village. The completion date for the first (19.5 thousand sq. m) and third (27.2 thousand sq. m) phases is March 2024, and the second phase (23 thousand sq. m) is May 2024. After that, the project envisages the implementation of two more stages.
In Dnipro region, Alfa Development Group is building two projects: the Shynnyi Industrial Park (Dnipro) and the Peredovyi warehouse center (51.3 thousand square meters, Chumakivska village council).
“Shynnyi is the first industrial park in Dnipro. We started it in early 2022, before the war. We negotiated with Ukrposhta, but this is still a thing of the past. So now we are building an industrial park. The construction plans for January 2024 include 130 thousand square meters, of which 34% have already been signed with a major client,” said Onufrienko.
In addition, a warehouse complex in Kropyvnytskyi with a total area of 14.2 thousand square meters is planned to be commissioned in October 2023.
The group also has a facility in Odesa, Odesa Logistic Park, which was damaged during Russian shelling.
“In Odesa, we have two warehouse complexes, one dry warehouse with a total area of 38 thousand square meters and a cold logistics facility with 27 thousand square meters. We had an arrival in Odesa, after which we have half of the dry warehouse left, which we are reconstructing. In September, we will complete 14 thousand square meters, which is almost half. We restored the refrigerators back in May,” said the CEO.
Next year’s plans also include the construction of a new logistics complex in Lviv with an area of 50 thousand square meters. Onufrienko told Interfax-Ukraine that the warehouse will be put into operation in 2024.
The expert noted that all of the company’s facilities are equipped with generators in case of power outages in the face of Russian aggression. In addition, shelters are being built at the facilities and new fire safety systems are being installed.
Alfa Development Group was founded in 2005. It holds one of the leading positions in the warehouse real estate market of Ukraine. Its portfolio includes 16 completed facilities with a total area of over 326 thousand square meters.
The Belgian company Granex-Cherkasy LLC (Dengi village, Cherkasy region) is completing the construction of a grain drying complex with a capacity of up to 600 tons per day, according to the project developer ProjectLine.
“The customer set the task to make the most compact layout possible, so ProjectLine specialists placed the complex on a plot measuring only 19×23 m,” the designers noted.
According to the report, the farm plans to build an elevator for 15 thousand tons of simultaneous storage, a grain final cleaning department, and a loading unit for vehicles.
Granex-Cherkasy LLC was established in 2002. The company specializes in growing grains, oilseeds, potatoes and onions under irrigation, with 450 hectares of the total land bank of 3.5 thousand hectares under cultivation. The company has a floor potato storage facility with a capacity of 6 thousand tons and a vegetable storage facility for onions with a capacity of 2 thousand tons. The main beneficiary of the company is a Belgian citizen Tom van Goy, and the manager is a Belgian citizen Wim de Schutter.
EUR60 mln will be invested in the construction of the Monsanto plant in Pochuiki village (Popelnyansky district, Zhytomyr region) by Bayer to produce corn seeds, said the head of Zhytomyr regional military administration Vitaliy Bunechko.
“Today together with the director of “Monsanto-seeds” LLC Vladimir Onishchenko laid a symbolic “time capsule” at the site of construction of new capacities of this enterprise. More than EUR60 million of additional investments during the war is the best evidence not only of international support for Ukraine, but also of the fact that large investors believe in our victory,” he wrote in Telegram.
Bunechko emphasized that Monsanto Seeds is already one of the largest seed plants in Eastern Europe. It provides corn hybrids not only to Ukrainian farmers, but also to agrarians in Romania, Hungary and France. After the construction of additional capacity, its potential will increase even more.
“Expansion of production is simultaneously the creation of new jobs in Zhytomyr region, increase of tax revenues to the budget, as well as foreign currency earnings, which is very important for the Ukrainian economy in war conditions,” he said.
At the same time, the head of Zhytomyr OVA noted the responsible position of Bayer, which in 2022, two months after the start of the full-scale invasion to support farmers who were sowing in super difficult conditions, gave them free of charge 140 tons of corn seeds of Monsanto selection.
The investment will reportedly be used to build a new seed dryer, purchase modern farming equipment, build storage facilities and two bomb shelters for employees. The plant employs about 100 full-time employees and 250 to 300 seasonal workers. The plant is one of the largest in the region.
Bayer is a multinational company that operates in the fields of medicine and agriculture. The company is headquartered in Leverkusen, Germany. In 2022, Bayer Group employed about 101 thousand people and its sales amounted to EUR50.7 bln.
The company has been operating in Ukraine since 1992 and is represented by the pharmaceutical division, OTC department, as well as the agricultural division. The total number of employees is 700.
